1922] Fernald,— Notes on the Flora of Nova Scotia 169 



8-13 mm. long and with prolonged base, are subfoliaceous and some- 

 times even subsquarrose. 



The latter is the tree taken by Dr. Britton to be B. lutea, but 

 when Michaux's original description and plate are examined it at 

 once becomes clear that the original B. lutea Michx. f. 1 was identical 

 with B. alleghaniensis, i. e. the common Yellow Birch with short 

 and subcoriaceous short-based scales which " abonde surtout dans les 

 forets de la Nouvelle-Ecosse, de la Nouvelle-Brunswick, du district 

 du Maine, ou elle est designee sous le seul nom de Yellow birch, Bouleau 

 jaune. " This is indicated not alone by the very characteristic 

 drawing of the fruiting ament and scale but by Michaux's definite 

 statement (pp. 153, 154) that "les ecailles . . . sont trifides, 

 tres-acuminees, et longues d 'environs 3 lignes (7 millimetres)." 

 That this extreme of the species is more common in the forests of 

 Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine than is the tree with longer 

 and subfoliaceous scales is clear from the representation of the two 

 in the herbaria (including that of the Arnold Arboretum) at hand. 

 Of typical B. lutea (B. alleghaniensis) Nova Scotia shows a representa- 

 tion of 7 collections, New Brunswick 3, and Maine 21; while of the 

 tree with long subfoliaceous scales Nova Scotia shows 3 collections, 

 New Brunswick 1 and Maine 3. 



Although it has been implied that the long-scaled extreme is of 

 more northern range than the short-scaled typical Betula lutea (B. 

 alleghaniensis) it is noteworthy that the collections at hand show 

 the latter to be more generally collected in the cooler or more northern 

 regions. The figures just listed are to the point; likewise the fact 

 that our only collections from Quebec are of typical B. lutea as are 

 6 out of 8 from Vermont and 6 out of 9 from New Hampshire. Further- 

 more, the collections from the southern Alleghanies show the typical 

 short-scaled B. lutea from an altitude of 3400 feet on the Blue Ridge 

 of Virginia, from "Upper slopes of Mt. Pisgah," North Carolina 

 (type of B. alleghaniensis) and from 6000 feet on the Great Smoky 

 Mountains; while the southern material of the long-scaled extreme 

 is from " along the East Fork of the Greenbrier River, " West Virginia, 

 "exregioneinferioriMontium Alleghany, Doe River Valley, Tennessee", 

 from "near foot of Thunderhead Mt., E. Tenn, " and common below 

 4000 feet in the mountains of Macon County, North Carolina. The 

 collections from Indiana are, likewise, consistent with these ranges, 



1 F. Andre-Michaux, Hist, des Arbres Forest, de l'Am. Sept. ii. 152, t. 5 (1812). 



