98 



FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



chusetts, as it belongs in its wild state southward, and 

 westward as far as Minnesota. It grows beside the 

 banks of streams, and attains a height of 30 to 50 

 feet. It is the only birch which can be found in a 

 warm climate. Unfortunately, the botanical name in- 

 dicates that it is black ; really it should be called B. 

 rubra, and there is one authority for this name.* 



I can not leave the birches without calling atten- 

 tion to an extreme species, a shrub rather than a tree, 

 which shows how far Nature sometimes 

 deviates from her commonest types. B. 

 glandulosa is a dwarf variety of the 

 birch, with miniature leaves and stunted 

 stems, which is found among 

 the high mountains of New 

 England. My sketch is taken 

 from a specimen found on the 

 Presidential Range of the White 

 Mountains, between Mounts 

 Adams and Jefferson ; it grew 

 close to the ground, hugging the rocky foundations, 

 and the smooth, brown branches were conspicuously 

 dotted with resinous, wartlike glands, to use Gray's 

 own words. The bush grows from 1 to 4 feet high. 

 The leaf is scarcely over three quarters of an inch long. 



Dwarf Birch. 



* Michaux. 



