204 TETRANDRIA. MONGYNIA. Betula. 



Hunt. Evel. 225 ; i. 218. ed. ll.-Knipb. 12-Gars. 172. 1- 

 Dod. 839. 2-G^r. em. \$Ti%-Lob. obs. 6QJ. 2 ; \c. ii. 190, 

 2-Park. 1400. 8-Matth. \\1-Black<w. 240~G*r. 1295- 

 J. B. \.b. US-Trag. 1113. 



Branches, the lesser deep chesnut coloured. Male catkins, 

 scale tipped with brown, with smaller scales fixed to the centre. 

 Blossom egg-shaped, concave, green. 



Var. 1. Branches upright, stiff, straight. 



Var. 2. Branches pliable, pendant. 



B. pendula. Roth. Gmelin Syst. veg. 



Birch tree. Birk. Woods and moist hedges. T. Apr. May.* 



aFnus. B. Fruistalks branched, wedge-shaped, very blunt: leaves 



roundish, glutinous : veins underneath woolly at the 

 base. 



Mattb. UO-Ger. 1294-C/«r. i. 12. 1-Lob. ic. ii. 191- ! ~ 



Ger. em. 1477. 2-Park. IWQ-Gars. \3V-Clus. i. 12. 1- 



Dod. 83<J. l-Ger. em. 1477. \-Hunt.e<vel. p. 240 j i./. 



233. ed. ll-Trag. 1084. 



Leaves nearly circular ; clammy : serrated. Male Catkin 

 „ cylindrical, deep mulberry colour. Segments of the bloss. un- 

 equal. Fern Catkin egg-shaped. Style purplish red. 



Alder. Ovuler. Oiler. Near water. T. Feb. and Mat.t 



* It is liable to a disease in its branches, which causes it to send out 

 a very great number of shoots in the middle of a branch, which being 

 grown to some length, have very much the appearance at a distance of a 

 tree full of Rooks nests ; the leaves upon those shoots are downy ana 

 soft. It grows in all kinds of soil, but best in shady places. It bears 

 cropping. It is hurtful to pasturage. The wood is firm, tough, and 

 ■white: Women's shoe-heels, and packing boxes are made of it. I* IS 

 planted along with hasel to make charcoal for forges. In the northern 

 parts of Lancashire, they form the slender twigs into besoms for exporta- 

 tion. Penn. tour. The leaves afford a yellow dye. The bark is extremely 

 useful to the people in the north of Europe ; they make hats and drinking 

 cups of it in Kamschatka. The Swedish fishermen make shoes of it. T n « 

 Norwegians cover their houses with it, and upon this cover, they lav 

 turf three or four inches thick. Torches are made of the bark sliced and 

 twisted together. It abounds with a resinous matter that is highly in- 

 flammable. If a hole is bored into the tree when the sap rises in the 

 spring, a sweet liquor distils from it, which properly fermented, with the 

 addition of sugar, makes a pleasant wine. — Horses, cows, goats and sheep 

 cat it. Swine refuse it. It furnishes food to many kinds of moths. 



+ It flourishes best in low marshy situations, in which it is frequently 

 plante.. to make hedges. It will net live in a chalky soil. It is easily 

 propagated by seeds, but not by slips or cuttings. Grass grows well be- 

 neath its shade. The wood is soft and brittle ;' endures a long time undc ^ 

 water, and therefore is used for pipes ; and to lay under the foundations o 



buildings situated upon bogs. Women's shoe-heels, ploughmen's cWj 



