1704 ARBORETUM AND ¥FRUTIETUM. PART I1I 
trees. This is a very singular fungus ; it is composed 
of folds radiating from the centre, with a beautifully 
radiated margin ; it was found at Appin, in Argyllshire. 
Sphee‘ria multiférmis Fries is also found on the birch. 
To this list may be added Agaricus muscarius L. 
(fig. 1555.), the fly agaric, the most poisonous of all 
the genus, which is generally found in birch woods. 
{t is highly narcotic, producing, in small doses, intox- 
ication and delirium, for which purpose it is used in 
Kamtschatka; and, in larger doses, death. For a de- 
tailed account of its poisonous effects, see Roque’s 
Hist. des Champ., p. 123. ; and apaper by Dr. Greville, 
in the 4th vol. of the Wernerian Trans., from which 
an extract is given by Dr. Lindley, Jntrod. to Nat. 
Syst. of Bot., p. 337. (ing. Fl., vol. v. p. 4.) 
Statistics. Recorded Trees. A weeping birch, at Ballogie, in the parish of Birse, in Aberdeenshire, 
measured, in 1798, 5 ft. in circumference at 4 ft. from the ground. Jt had a clear straight stem, about 
50 ft. high, of nearly equal thickness throughout ; and the total height of the tree was supposed to 
be about 100 ft. (Stat. Hist., vol. ix. p.129.) In the Forest of Tarnawa, in Morayshire, there are 
several birches which girt 9 ft, at 4ft. from the ground, (Jdd., vol. viii. p. 557.) Sir Thomas Dick 
Lauder says that there are now many in the same forest which girt 10 ft. and 11 ft. ; and he measured 
one which girted 13 ft. at 3ft. from the ground. (Lauder’s Gilpin, vol. i. p. 283.) In France, in the 
time of Du Hamel, there was a superb weeping birch at Ermenonville, which stood beside the 
Temple of Philosophy, in the park, and hung over part of the building. 
Existing Trees. mn the environs of London, in the Fulham Nursery, 40 years planted, it is 50 ft. 
high. In Dorsetshire, at Melbury Park, 50 years planted, it is 72 ft. high; in Wiltshire, at Wardour 
Castle, 40 years planted, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 2ft., and that of the head 30 ft. 
In Scotland, in Haddingtonshire, at Yester, 80 years planted, it is 73 ft. high, diameter of the 
trunk 4 ft. 6in., and of the head 78 ft. ; in Forfarshire, at Kinnaird, 100 years planted, it is70 ft. high, 
the diameter of the trunk 3ft., and of the head 54ft.; in Perthshire, at Taymouth, B. alba pendula 
is 64 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 50 ft. ; in Ross-shire, at Brahan Castle, 
the species is 70 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 2 ft., and of the head 30 ft. In Ireland, in the 
Glasnevin Botanic Garden, 35 years planted, it is 36 ft. high, the diameter cf the trunk 1 ft., and of the 
head 16 ft. ; in Tyrone, at Baron’s Court, it is 60 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 2 ft. 4in,, and of the head 
50 ft. In France, at Avranches, in the Botanic Garden, 19 years old, it is 49 ft. high, the diameter 
of the trunk 22 ft., and of the head 20ft. In Bavaria, in the Botanic Garden at Munich, 24 years 
planted, it is 28ft. high. In Austria, at Vienna, at Laxenburg, 25 years old, it is 20ft. high. In 
Prussia, at Berlin, at Sans Souci, 35 years old, the species is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 
2 ft., and of the head 19 ft. In Sweden, at Lund, in the Botanic Garden, 52 ft. high, the diameter of 
the trunk Yin., and of the head 18ft. In Denmark, at Rosenburg, it is between 70 ft. and 80 ft. 
high. In Russia, near St. Petersburg, at Rudets, on the estate of Madame Constantinoff, 40 years 
old, it is 71 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 15in. In Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years old, it is 
45 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 20 ft. 
% ¥* 9. B. paAu‘rica Pall. The Daurian Birch. 
Identification. Pall. Ross., 1. p. 60.; Willd. Sp. Pl. 4. p. 463.; Baum., p. 57.; N. Du Ham., 3. 
p. 204.; Hayne Dend., p. 166. _ ‘ says 
Synonymes. B. excélsa canadénsis Wang. Beztr., p. 86.; Bouleau de Sibérie, Fr. 
Engravings. Pall. Ross., 1. t. 39.; Willd. Baum., t. 1. f. 3. and 4. ; and our fig. 1556. 
Spec. Char., $c. Leaves ovate, narrow at the base, quite entire, unequaily 
dentate, glabrous. Scales of the strobiles ciliated on their margins ; side 
lobes roundish. (Willd. Sp. Pl., iv. p. 463.) This spe- 
cies, according to Pallas, its discoverer, is closely allied 
to B. alba, and is found along with that species in 
Dauria, and part of Asiatic Siberia; but it is not found 
in European Siberia, nor in Russia. It does not grow 
so tall as the common birch, and the trunk does not 
exceed 1 ft. in diameter. The bark is grey, cleft longi- 
tudinally, and divided into brown scales, that have the 
appearance of being burnt. The branches are more 
subdivided, and more upright, than those of B. alba. 
The leaves are broader, commonly smaller, on shorter 
petioles, and unequally serrated. The stipules are 
lanceolate, grey, subpubescent, and deciduous. The 
male catkins are produced at the ends of the twigs of 
the foregoing year, two or three together, larger than 
in the common birch; the females are on the same 
twigs, lateral, thicker, with larger and more rounded 
scales; the seed, also, is a little longer; but the mem- 
