﻿BIRCH 
  FAMILY 
  

  

  57 
  

  

  Bark 
  scaling 
  off 
  in 
  white 
  strips 
  and 
  layers, 
  but 
  not 
  in 
  nearly 
  as 
  

   large 
  sheets 
  as 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  rarer 
  canoe 
  birch 
  (B. 
  papyri/era). 
  The 
  

   commonest 
  birch 
  of 
  New 
  England. 
  

  

  5. 
  B. 
  alba 
  L. 
  EUROPEAN 
  WHITE 
  BIRCH, 
  CUT-LEAVED 
  BIRCH. 
  

   A 
  tree 
  50-60 
  ft. 
  high, 
  often 
  with 
  drooping 
  branches. 
  Leaves 
  

   triangular-ovate, 
  truncate, 
  rounded 
  or 
  somewhat 
  heart-shaped 
  at 
  

  

  E 
  

  

  FIG. 
  11. 
  Gray 
  birch 
  (Betula 
  populifolia) 
  

  

  A, 
  catkins, 
  natural 
  size: 
  s, 
  staminate; 
  p, 
  pistillate. 
  B, 
  cluster 
  of 
  ripened 
  

   fruits; 
  C, 
  bract 
  with 
  three 
  staminate 
  flowers; 
  D, 
  bract 
  with 
  three 
  pistil- 
  

   late 
  flowers 
  ; 
  E, 
  fruit. 
  (B, 
  C, 
  D, 
  E, 
  somewhat 
  magnified) 
  

  

  the 
  base, 
  not 
  strongly 
  taper-pointed 
  except 
  in 
  the 
  cut-leaved 
  form. 
  

   Commonly 
  cultivated 
  from 
  Europe. 
  Resembles 
  No. 
  4, 
  but 
  has 
  whiter 
  

   bark 
  and 
  (the 
  weeping 
  form) 
  much 
  more 
  slender 
  branches. 
  

  

  Var. 
  papyrifera. 
  CANOE 
  BIRCH, 
  PAPER 
  BIRCH. 
  A 
  large 
  tree, 
  

   often 
  60-70 
  ft. 
  high, 
  with 
  chalky-white 
  papery 
  bark, 
  peeling 
  off 
  in 
  

   large 
  thin 
  sheets. 
  Leaves 
  ovate, 
  acute 
  or 
  taper-pointed, 
  coarsely 
  

   serrate 
  or 
  dentate, 
  but 
  entire 
  at 
  the 
  base, 
  dark 
  green 
  and 
  usually 
  

   without 
  glands 
  on 
  the 
  upper 
  surface, 
  on 
  the 
  lower 
  surface 
  light 
  

   yellowish-green 
  and 
  nearly 
  smooth, 
  but 
  with 
  tufts 
  of 
  hairs 
  in 
  the 
  

  

  