US Plant Patent PP16573
WHIT XXV
River birch tree named ‘WHIT XXV’
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired January 17, 2025. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.
Twenty years from the filing date would end on August 26, 2024. This patent earned 144 days of term adjustment for delay at the Patent Office, which is why it runs longer.

The record
- Patent number
- PP16573
- Filed
- August 26, 2004
- Granted
- May 23, 2006
- Expires
- January 17, 2025
- Assignee
- LACEBARK INC
- Inventor
- WHITCOMB CARL E
Abstract
A new and distinct cultivar of river birch tree, Betula nigra, named ‘WHIT XXV,’ characterized as having a tree form that is broadly pyramidal to oval and may be grown with a single stem or multiple stems for greater landscape appeal. The bark of the ‘WHIT XXV’ is creamy-white during the late summer, fall and winter, developing its coloration at a young age when most stems are about 0.75 to 1.0 inch in diameter. The leaves are dark green of moderate size and turn yellow-gold in the fall.
Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.
1. A new and distinct variety of a river birch tree, substantially as illustrated and described.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP16573 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.