62 TREKS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



name, " checkerberry birch"; called also "cherry birch/' from 

 the resemblance of its bark to that of the garden cherry. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. - - Buds reddish-brown, oblong or 

 conical, pointed, inner scales whitish, elongating as the bud 

 opens. Leaves simple, in alternate pairs, .'5-4 inches long and 

 one-half as wide, shining green above and downy when young, 

 paler beneath and silvery-downy along the prominent, straight 

 veins ; outline ovate-oval, ovate-oblong, or oval ; sharply ser- 

 rate to doubly serrate ; apex acute to acuminate ; base heart- 

 shaped to obtuse ; leafstalk short, often curved, hairy when 

 young; stipules soon falling. 



Inflorescence. April to May. Sterile catkins 3-4 inches 

 long, slender, purplish-yellow ; scales fringed : fertile catkins 

 erect or suberect, sessile or nearly so, -J- 1 inch long, oblong- 

 cylindrical ; bracts pubescent ; lateral lobes wider than in 

 B. lutea. 



Fruit. Fruiting catkins oblong-cylindrical, nearly erect ; 

 bracts with 3 short, nearly equal diverging lobes : nut obo- 

 vate-oblong, wider than its wings ; upper part of seed-body 

 usually appressed-pubescent. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 grows everywhere from swamps to hilltops, but prefers 

 moist rocky slopes and a loamy or gravelly soil; occasion- 

 ally offered by nurserymen ; both nursery and collected 

 plants are moved without serious difficulty ; apt to grow 

 rather unevenly. 



Plate XXX. Betula lenta. 



1. Winter buds. 



2. Flowering branch. 



3. Sterile flower, back view. 



4. Sterile flower, front view. 



5. Fertile flower. 



0. Fruiting branch. 



7. Fruit. 



8. Mature leaf. 



