40 TREES AS GOOD CITIZENS 



of the Beech are thin, finely and straightly veined, sharp 

 pointed and sharply toothed. The nuts grow two in a 

 bur and form a sharply three-sided pyramid of a shiny 

 brown color. The European Beech has similar though 

 often darker bark, and its leaves are proportionately 

 broader, though smaller, with less pronounced teeth and 

 with 5 to 9 pairs of side veins, instead of 9 to 14 pairs, 

 as in the American Beech. 



The trunk of the Grey Birch, when young, has a shiny 

 bark of reddish brown, and as the tree matures, the bark 

 becomes a dull chalky white with triangular dark patches 

 underneath the bases of the branches. The bark is close- 

 fitting, does not peel rapidly, and has thick short hori 

 zontal lines. The branches are slender and the lowest 

 droop, while those near the top are ascending or erect. 

 The leaves are triangular, sharply long pointed, and have 

 fine teeth. The White, or Canoe Birch, has buff-white 

 bark which peels off in paper-like layers. It lacks the 

 triangular patches seen on the Grey Birch. The leaves 

 are egg-shaped instead of triangular and double-toothed. 

 The Paper Birch resembles the Grey Birch in that it has 

 the same chalky-white bark, but it is different in that the 

 bark of the Paper Birch peels off readily in thin layers, and 

 that the dark, triangular patches are missing. 



The Basswood, or American Linden, has brownish 

 grey bark with long, vertical fissures. The leaves are 

 broadly heart-shaped and one-sided at base. The leaves 

 of the European Linden are more evenly heart-shaped 

 and are smaller than those of the Basswood. The flowers 

 of the Basswood have five creamy white petals opposite 

 petal-like scales; in the flowers of the European tree these 

 scales are lacking. 



