The first tree to widely colonise the U.K. after the Ice Age, the silver and downy birches ( Betula pendula and Betula pubescens) have traditionally been associated with beginnings, and are the first tree of the Celtic tree alphabet calendar. Of little timber value, birch is regarded as a weed by modern forestry, but is a useful coppice species.
Ruskin seems to have picked up on its reputation for purity and fresh energy, elements he stresses from time to time in his references to the tree, particularly in Modern Painters V ( Works, 7.20, 98, 109) and in The Seven Lamps of Architecture, (1849) where he urges humanity, encrusted with 'idle matter' to follow the example of the birch, which constantly rents its bark to reveal its true 'inward strength' ( Works, 8.192). In Proserpina Ruskin digresses into a discussion of the ancient Sanskrit origins of the word 'birch', and elsewhere he stresses the enduring nature of the species ( Works, 33.59). At the close of his career, he becomes particularly fond of the 'comforting birches' at Brantwood, as he confides in a letter to Mary Gladstone ( Works, 37.587). The birch is used as an occasional illustration of the technique of Turner and others and other artists ( Works, 4.79, 5. 167, 14. 116) and as a good lesson for the aspiring artist in The Elements of Drawing (1857) ( Works, 15.71, 144-9). Sightings of illustrious birches form a staple of his descriptions of British and European travel ( Works, 4.363, 7. 268, 29. 462, 35. 47).