196 THE STORY OF PLANT Lite 
It is not a lofty tree, being about 40 to 50 ft., with 
a slender, erect bole, with a silvery papery bark 
which readily peels away. The branches droop down 
at the extremity in a truly graceful and characteristic 
manner. 
The leaves are truncate below at the base, glabrous, 
or with spots of resin on the surface, usually rather 
rhomboidal, and in an allied form they are pubescent, 
leathery, glandular in the young stage, flat below, 
with the veins prominent. 
The petiole is slender; the stipules are broad, 
circinate, acute, three times as long as broad. The 
young shoots have resinous tubercles, and are often 
long and pendulous. The buds are conical. The 
scales of the female catkins are 3-lobed, the lateral 
lobes falcate, reflexed, the catkins, being solitary, 
shorter than the male, and suberect. The male 
catkins have peltate scales, two bracts, and three 
flowers with one to four sepals. There are two 
stamens with forked filaments separating the anther 
cells. They are pendulous. The female catkins 
have imbricate bracts and two to three flowers. 
The fruit is lenticular, winged, with a notch in it, 
orbicular and obovate. | 
The Birch is in flower in April and May. 
The tree is not a very valuable timber tree. It is 
liable to be attacked by insects. The bark is used 
for the purpose of tanning, however. The juice is 
sugary in spring, and wine has been made from this. 
The Birch yields a fragrant oil. 
