But the birch bark not white after all, as you got closer.

NEWYORKER: Amundsen

Within a few hours, he forgot that he had given the order, and in a few dozen years he in turn was forgotten, but these trees still stood, enormous now, some of them dead and looming without bark, white and leafless.

NEWYORKER: Nawabdin Electrician

Brittle-looking birch trees with black marks on their white bark, and some small, untidy evergreens, rolled up like sleepy bears.

NEWYORKER: Amundsen

Frankincense is harvested by making cuts to the trees' white, flaky bark.

WSJ: A Shift for the Magi? Frankincense Shortage