Betula nigra river birch

River birch at The Knoll. Sairus Patel, 1 Dec 2023

Multi-hued bark, cream to pink to brownish gray, peels and comes off in bigger chunks when older, distinguishing this least common of campus birches. Leaves are larger than silver birch’s, and more roughly toothed. A trio is on the east end of the lawn in front of The Knoll. An imposing four-trunked specimen stands on the left of the house at 939 Casanueva Place. In the Stanford Research Park, seven are on the left at 777 California Avenue, and two are at 2450 Hanover Street, on the California Avenue side.