Germplasm Reported from the North American Center of Diversity, cherry birch, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate heath balds, frost, shade, and slope. Distribution Southern Maine to southern Ontario, southern to eastern Ohio and Delaware, along the mountains to Alabama and Georgia. Farther south in rich woods and heath balds. Cultivation For the oil, birch is usually harvested from the wild. Birch seeds do best if stratified, or can be sown after collection in late summer or fall.
Seedlings require light shade during their first summer.
Ripe cones, on the other hand, are placed in, bags to prevent loss of seed. Yields and Economics Most sources indicate that birch oil, which replaced wintergreen oil, has been largely replaced by synthetic methyl salicylate. If there were a decent market for the oil of the bark and wood, then most of the aerial biomass could be an energetic byproduct. References Agriculture Handbook 165. 1960. Index of plant diseases in the United States.