1710 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART Ill. 
and of the head 32ft. In Devonshire, at Endsleigh Cottage, 10 years planted, it is 27 ft. high ; in 
Buckinghamshire, at Temple House, 40 years planted, it is 25 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 10in., 
and of the head 16 ft. ; in Staffordshire, at Trentham, 26 years planted, it is 34ft. high. In Ireland, 
near Dublin, at Cypress Grove, it is 55 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 9in., and of the head 
40ft. In France, at Paris, in the Jardin des Plantes, 30 years old, it is 32 ft. high, the diameter of 
the trunk 22 ft., and of the head 30ft. In Hanover, at Géttingen, in the Botanic Garden, 20 
years planted, it is 30 ft. high. 
Commercial Statistics. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, from 1s. to 
1s. 6d. each ; and of seeds, 1s. per quart. At New York, plants are 25 cents 
each, and seeds 1 dollar per pound, or 8 dollars per bushel. 
¥ 9. B.wi‘era ZL. The black Birch. 
Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 464., Baum., p. 56. ; Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 336.; Pursh Fl. Amer. 
Sept., 2. p. 621.; N. Du Ham., 5. p. 203.; Dend. Brit., t. 153, ; Lindley,in Penny Cycl. 
Synonymes. JB. lanuldsa Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p. 181., N. Du Ham., 3. p. 206.; ? B. ribra 
Michx. Arb., 2. p. 162. ; B. angulata Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; red Birch, Amer. 
Engravings. Dend. Brit., t. 153.; Michx. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. t. 3.; Willd. Baum., t. i. f. 6.; N. 
Du Ham., 3. t. 51.;. Bot. Cab., t. 1248.; our figs. 1562., and 1563. ; and the plates of this tree in 
our last Volume. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves rhomboid-ovate, doubly serrated, acute ; pubescent 
beneath, entire at the base. Scales of the strobiles villose; segments li- 
near, equal. (Willd. Sp. Pl., iv. p. 464.) A tree, a native of North America, 
from New Jersey to Carolina; attaining the height of 70 ft.; and flowering 
in May. Introduced as B. nigra, in 1736, by Peter Collinson; and again, 
as B. angulata, in 1817, by Messrs. Loddiges. We have adopted the spe- 
cific name of nigra, because it was preferred by Willdenow and Pursh. The 
figure in Michaux, of which our jig.1562. is a correct copy, differs so much 
from that given in Dend. Brit. (our fig.1563), which we know to be a faith- 
ful imitation of the plant which we intend to describe, as it is to be seen at 
Messrs. Loddiges’s, and in various other nurseries, that we are inclined to 
think there must be some error in the application of the name to the figure 
in Michaux ; though his description agrees perfectly with our plant — the 
difference between the cuts being in the position of the catkins. 
Description, §c. A tree, when full grown, attaining the height of 70 ft., in 
Virginia and North Carolina. The trunk and the largest limbs are covered 
with a thick, deeply furrowed, greenish bark ; but, on trees with trunks not 
exceeding Sin. or 10in. in diameter, the epidermis is 
reddish, or of a cinnamon colour ; “whence, probably,” 
says Michaux, “ the appropriate denomination of red 
birch. The epidermis of this species, like that of the 
canoe birch (B. papyracea), divides itself transversely 
into thin transparent sheets, which appear to be com- 
posed of a mixed substance, instead of presenting a pure 
homogeneous texture. Hence they have not a uniform 
transparency, nor a perfectly even surface: compared 
with the bark of the canoe birch, they are like coarse 
paper compared with fine. When this tree is fully ex- 
panded, its summit is ample; but the uncommon thickness 
of its branches prevents it from appearing tufted. The 
twigs which form the extremity of the tree are long, 
flexible, and pendulous ; and the limbs are of a brown 
complexion, spotted with white: their bark is slightly 
uneven; while on other branches it is smooth and glossy. 
The petioles of the red birch are short and downy; the 
leaves, on young trees, are about 3in. long, and 2in. wiiielbcmes' 
> 
broad, of a light green on the upper surface, and whitish beneath ; though on 
old trees they are much smaller : they are doubly denticulated at the edge, very 
acuminate at the summit, and terminated at the base in an acute angle, more 
regular than is seen in the leaf of any other tree. The female catkins, in 
America, are 5 in. or 6 in. long, straight, and nearly cylindrical ; about London, 
they are not half the size. The seeds are ripe in the-beginning of June.” 
(N. Amer. Syl., ii. p. 101.) “No species,” Dr. Lindley observes, “ can be better 
f| 
