A 40-year-old marked specimen of Betula pendula cv "Fastigiata" was used as donor plant. For callus induction, leaf segments obtained in vitro were cultivated on Simola (1985) medium. The effect of different nutritive media (S, WPM and MS) in combination with BA (0.5, 0.8 and 1.0 mg l^-1) and zeatin (2, 5 and 10 mg l^-1) on adventitious bud formation from callus segments was tested. The best results were obtained on medium S containing 5 and 10 mg l^-1 zeatin where the mean number of adventitious shoots formed by each leaf disc reached 137.92 ± 5.25 and 209.37 ± 6.94 respectivelly.
Appearance of fasciated shoots was observed in all nutritive media used but only when 5 mg l^-1 or 10 mg l^-1 zeatin were used and reached from 1.75 ± 0.29 % (medium MS) to 2.05 ± 0.09 % (medium WPM).
The effect of different auxin concentrations (IBA and NAA) on the rooting of adventitious shoots indicated that the highest percentage of rooting (100 %) was achieved on half-diluted MS medium in combination with 0.5 mg l^-1 NAA + 0.5 mg l^-1 IBA.