Betula pendula, also known as the European White Birch, Silver Birch, and Weeping Silver Birch, is a medium-sized deciduous tree that is perfect for parks and gardens. It typically reaches 30-40 ft tall, with a slender trunk and arched branches with drooping branchlets. Its white bark often has black diamond-shaped marks or larger patches, particularly at the base. The leaves are dark green in summer and yellowish in fall, and the small winged seeds ripen in late summer on pendulous, cylindrical catkins. The bark is waterproof, durable, tough, and resinous, and is used to make drinking vessels, canoe skins, roofing tiles, and more. It is also used medicinally and makes a refreshing tea. This pioneer species readily invades old fields, cleared or burnt-over land, and creates conditions suitable for other woodland trees to become established. Silver birch is often grown for forest products such as lumber.