This is Betula pendula, also known as European white birch, Irish Beith, silver birch, and warty birch. The sap contains about 1 percent sugar and can be tapped for a syrup used similarly to maple syrup. You can drink it fresh, evaporate it to increase the concentration, or ferment it into a beverage. The bark has been ground up and used in the production of bark bread during a famine situation. This tree can live in full sun or in partial shade and blooms in the late Winter and early Spring. USDA Hardiness Zones 3 to 9a.