BETULACE^ 197 



cross veinlets, turning bright clear yellow late in the autumn; their petioles stout, 

 hairy, deeply grooved ou the upper side, |'-1' long; stipules ovate, acute, light green 

 or nearly white, scarious and ciliate above the middle. Flo"wers: staminate aments 

 during the winter about |' long, nearly ^ thick, with ovate acute apiculate scales 

 bright red-brown above the middle and light brown below, becoming 3'-4' long; pis- 

 tillate aments ^'-f ' long, about |^' thick, with ovate pale green scales rounded at the 

 apex; styles light pink. Fruit: strobiles oblong-ovoid, sessile, erect, glabrous, I'-l^' 

 long, about ^' thick; nut obovate, pointed at the base, rounded at the apex, about as 

 broad as its wing. 



A tree, with aromatic bark and leaves, 70-80 high, with a trunk 2-o in diame- 

 ter, slender branches finally spreading almost at right angles, becoming pendulous 

 toward the ends and gradually forming a narrow round-topped open graceful head, 

 and branchlets light green, slightly viscid and pilose when they first appear, soon 

 turning dark orange-brown, lustrous during the summer, bright red-brown in their 

 first winter, becoming darker and finally dark dull brown slightly tinged with red. 

 Winter-buds ovate, acute, about ^' long, with ovate acute light chestnut-brown 

 loosely imbricated scales, those of the inner ranks becoming -^'-f' long. Bark on 

 young stems and branches close, smooth, lustrous, dark brown tinged with red, and 

 marked by elongated horizontal pale lenticels, becoming on old trunks ^'-f ' thick, 

 dull, deeply furrowed and broken into large thick irregular plates covered with 

 closely appressed scales. Wood heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, dark 

 brown tinged with red, with thin light brown or yellow sapwood of 70-80 layers of 

 annual growth; largely used in the manufacture of furniture and for fuel, and occa- 

 sionally in ship and boatbuilding. Oil used medicinally as a flavor is distilled from 

 the wood, and beer is obtained by fermenting the sugary sap. 



Distribution. Rich uplands from Newfoundland and the valley of the Saguenay 

 River to northwestern Ontario, and central Iowa, and southward to Delaware, south- 

 ern Indiana and Illinois, and along the Alleghany Mountains to western Florida, 

 central Kentucky and Tennessee; a common forest tree at the north, and of its 

 largest size on the western slopes of the southern Appalachian Mountains. 



2. Betula lutea, Michx. Yellow Birch. Gray Birch. 



Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, acuminate or acute at the apex, gradually narrowed 

 to the rounded cuneate or rarely heart-shaped usually oblique base, sharply doubly 

 serrate, when they unfold bronze-green or red and pilose, with long pale hairs above 

 and on the under side of the midribs and veins, at maturity dark dull green above, 

 yellow-green below, S'-4^' long, l^'-2' wide, with stout midribs and primary veins 

 covered below near the base of the leaf with short pale or rufous hairs, turning clear 

 bright yellow in the autumn before falling; their petioles slender, pale yellow, hairy, 

 I'-l' long; stipules ovate, acute, light green tinged with pink above the middle, 

 about ^' long. Flowers: staminate aments during the winter f'-l' long, about ^' 

 thick, with ovate rounded scales light chestnut-brown and lustrous above the middle, 

 ciliate on the margins, becoming 3'-3y long and i-' thick; pistillate aments about f'long, 

 with acute scales, pale green below, light red and tipped with clusters of long white 

 hairs at the apex, and pilose on the back. Fruit: strobiles erect, sessile, short-stalked, 

 pubescent, V-l^ long, about |' thick; nut oval or obovate, about 1' long, rather 

 broader than its wing. 



A tree, with slightly aromatic bark and leaves, occasionally 100 high, with a 

 trunk 3^ in diameter, spreading and more or less pendulous branches forming 



