CHAPTER VI. 



I. Simple Alternate Leaves. 



2. With teeth. A. Edge not divided. 



THE BIRCHES. 



Black, Sweet, or The black, sweet, or cherry birch has 

 Cherry Birch, slender, dark reddish - brown twigs 

 Betuia lenta. ^^ a delightful aromatic taste, which 

 is a sufficient means for the unmistakable identifica- 

 tion of the tree ; the bark of no other birch possesses 

 exactly this aromatic flavor, although there is a cer- 

 tain sweetness to the yellow birch's twigs. It is from 

 the twigs of the black birch that the flavoring for 

 birch beer is obtained. 



This tree has an evenly balanced, oval-pointed leaf, 

 with a regular double-toothed edge, which is an easy 

 means of distinguishing it from its neighbors. Com- 

 pare for an instant my leaf drawings of the black 

 birch and the American elm : it will be seen at once 

 that the leaves are somewhat similar in general out- 

 line, in double-toothed edge, and in prominent, almost 



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