Birch

Betula pendula

Betulaceae

A mild, green, slightly wintergreen spring cup from young birch leaf — not a methyl-salicylate binge.

Leaf tea is a salicylate cousin — not birch oil, which is a liniment and a poison-control regular.

Parts used: Young leaf · Twig (traditional)
Traditional notes: Spring green tea · Traditional joint cup · A mild diuretic folklore
Grow · USDA 6b: Tree, USDA 2–7 A nursery whip is kinder than seed. They like disturbed, open ground. In work: Apr · May
Harvest: Young leaf in spring, before it toughens.

Pick young. Old leaf is tannic.
The oil in a bottle is not the tea.

Safety

Aspirin allergy or salicylate sensitivity Wintergreen or birch oil internally A daily pot for months

Lore

Birch was the paper of the north — bark letters, sap wine, a broom, a tea. The wintergreen smell is methyl salicylate, the same family as willow and aspirin. Finnish and Russian spring tables still put young leaf in a pot. The Victorian ‘birch oil’ liniment is why poison control still knows the genus by name.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.