Betula papyrifera, In Ahtna: k'ey, pronounced "kay"

Winter invites closer looking. This week’s sketch focuses on a k'ey (paper birch) trunk rising out of the snow. I zoomed in on one lenticel (the dark, horizontal mark in the bark) and sketched a cross-section to better understand how the tree breathes. Lenticels are made of loosely packed cells that allow oxygen to move into the living tissues beneath the bark and carbon dioxide to move out, letting the tree continue to respire even through the winter.