446 



CUPULfPER^ 



ovary compressed, 2-chambered, 2-ovuled ; fruit small, winged, 

 I -seeded. (Name, the Classical Latin name of the tree.) 



I. B. pendula (White Birch). — A beautiful forest tree which has 

 been styled "the Lady of the Woods," with smooth, silvery- white 

 bark, scaling off in transverse strips ; copper-brown branches with 

 resinous tubercles, often weeping- ; rhomboid, irregularly serrate 

 leaves on long stalks, truncate at their base, and with raised veins 

 on the upper surface ; staminate catkins i - 2 in. long, pendulous ; 



Alnus rotundi folia {Coinnton Alder). 



fruiting catkins sub-erect at first, deciduous. — Woods ; common. 

 — Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



2. B. alba (Common Birch). — Often only a bush ; twigs, and 

 sometimes leaves, downy ; leaves always rounded at the base with 

 the veins prominent on the under surface. — Woods ; common. — 

 Fl. April, May. Perennial. 



3. B. intermedia, a small tree with leaves smaller, more orbicular, 

 and more bluntly toothed than the preceding, and catkins only 



