188 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



In heathy phiccs. Rare, but widely distributed on the higher hills 

 in Scotland. 



Scotland. Shrub. Early Summer. 



A small shrub, with ascending branches, rarely above 2 or 3 feet 

 high. Leaves ^ to I inch long, and generally rather broader, rounded 

 or subcordate at the base, reticulated, dark green. The male catkins I 

 have not seen. The female catkins are shortly stalked, | to | inch 

 long. Catkin-scales brown, very deeply cleft. Fruit bordered, but not 

 evidently winged. Leaves glabrous, the young shoots pubescent. 



Dwarf Birch. 



French, Boideau nain, German, Zv:erg Birlcc. 



This species is little more than a bushy shrub, with many little downy branches. 

 It is a native of Lapland, Sweden, Russia, and Scotland. According to Pallas, it is 

 common in the whole of the north of Russia and Siberia. In wet situations, he says, 

 the shoots grow to the length of six feet, and in a state of cultivation they grow as 

 high as nine feet, and assume an erect form. This shrub is of singular use in the 

 domestic economy of the Laplanders. Its branches furnish them with their beds and 

 their chief fuel ; its leaves, with a better 3'ollow dye than that obtained from the com- 

 mon birch ; its seed affords nourishment to the ptarmigan or white partridge, which 

 supplies a considerable portion of their food, and also forms an important article of 

 commerce ; and for thcii' medicine it produces the fungus Vohjporus fomentarius, from 

 which the mosa or amadow is prejiared, which Laplanders consider an efficacious 

 remedy in all painful diseases. To make this preparation, the outer covering of the 

 fung-us is peeled off, and the interior part, which is soft and full of fibres, is boiled in 

 a lye of wood-ashes. It is then dried, and beaten with a hammer till it becomes flat ; 

 after which it is again boiled in a solution of saltpetre. In this state it makes ex- 

 cellent tinder, igniting with the slightest spark. It is the agaric de cliene or agaric 

 des chirurgiens of the French druggists. The Laj)landers are said to cure a violent pain 

 in any part of the body by laying a piece of P. fomentarius on the part, and ig-niting 

 it — much after the manner of a mustard plaister, we imagine, by counter-irritation. 



Sub-Order III.— .:\IYRICEiE. 



Leaves alternate, simple, pinnately veined. Stipules caducous or 

 absent. Flowers dioecious, rarely monoecious, both the male and female 

 flowers in catkins. Catkin-scales of the male catkins often accompanied 

 by 2 lateral floral-scales, and covering 1 flower, which is without an 

 evident perianth : stamens 2 to 6, or very rarely 8. Female catkins 

 with entire scales, each catkin covering 1 flower, which is surrounded 

 ])y 2 to scales (perianth?), which adhere to the base of the ovary, 

 and increase and become somewhat fleshy after flowering : ovary sessile, 

 1-celled, with 1 erect ovule, style very short, with 2 long stigmas. 

 Fruit a small dry indehisccnt 1-celled and 1 -seeded nut, enclosed in 

 the enlarged and more or less fleshy scales, which have resinous or 



