72 Native Trees oj Canada 



This birch gets its name from its yellowish, straw-coloured bark. On young 

 trees it is smooth but as the tree gets older it peels into papery bands with curled 

 ends, which form a fringe along the length of the trunk. 



The twigs are light brown, shiny, and smooth, and the winter buds are pointed, 

 light chestnut-brown, and about ]/i in. long. 



The leaves are 3 to 4 in. long, and coarsely toothed as compared with those of 

 the other birches. They are dull green above and downy beneath, especially along 

 the veins. The stems are short, slender, grooved, and downy. 



Birch is the most important hardwood sawn into lumber in Canada, and yellow 

 birch forms the greater part of the birch lumber produced. The use of the wood is 

 steadily increasing for such purposes as flooring, furniture, interior finish, vehicle 

 stock, agricultural implements, and handles. Small trees and mill waste are used 

 in wood distillation. 



BETUI.A LENTA, Linn. SWEET BIRCH 



Common names: Sweet birch, cherry birch, red birch, black 



birch. 

 French names: Bouleau merisier, merisier rouge, merisier odo- 



rant, bouleau acajou, bouleau a sucre. 



The distribution of the sweet birch in Canada has not yet been well defined. 

 It has been reported by lumbermen and others from Nova Scotia to northwestern 

 Ontario, but there are reasons to believe that it has been confused in many cases 

 with the yellow birch {Betula lutea)y a tree which occasionally develops specimens 

 with bark somewhat resembling that of this tree. It is, therefore, possible that 

 the sweet birch does not extend much beyond those parts of Quebec and New 

 Brunswick that border on the Canada-United States boundary, where the tree 

 enters Canada from the south. 



It is a medium-sized tree about 50 ft. high with trunk diameter averaging IJ^ 

 to 2 ft., but occasionally reaching a height of 75 ft. and a trunk diameter of 3 J^ or 4 

 ft. On very poor soil it is a mere shrub-like tree with a stunted appearance. 

 The branches are numerous and spread out from the stem at a wide angle, but form 

 rather a narrow crown. The smaller twigs and branches droop. 



The bark on younger trees is dark brown and smooth, and resembles very 

 much that of the cherry, whence the name "cherry birch" sometimes applied to it. 

 On old trees the bark is thick and almost black, and is broken by shallow grooves 

 into flat plates, which turn up at the edge. It is very aromatic and is frequently 

 distilled for the winter-green flavouring that is produced from an ethereal oil it 

 contains. 



The shiny, brown, slender, smooth twigs have also a very aromatic flavour; 

 more distinct than in the case of the yellow birch. 



