Leaves Alternate. 59 



Fig. 29. Red Birch, River Birch. B. nigra, L. ; B. rubra, 



Michaux, f. ' , 



Leaves, SIMPLE ; ALTERNATE ; EDGE UNEQUALLY DOUBLE- 

 TOOTHED ; entire at base. 



Outline, egg-shape, often approaching diamond-shape. 

 Apex, pointed. Base, somewhat pointed, often 

 rather blunt wedge-shaped. 



Leaf-stem, short (about one half to three fourths of an 

 inch) and downy. 



Leaf, about three inches long by two inches wide, or often 

 less ; whitish and (until old) downy beneath ; dotted ; 

 in autumn turning to a bright yellow. 



Bark of the trunk reddish-brown. As the tree grows the 

 bark becomes torn and loose, hanging in thin shreds 

 of varying shades. The young twigs are downy. 



Found, on low grounds, especially along river banks, from 

 Massachusetts westward and southward. It becomes 

 common only in the lower part of New Jersey. Its 

 finest growth is in the South. It is the only birch 

 which grows in a warm climate. 



A tree usually thirty to fifty feet high, with the 

 branches long and slender, arched and heavily drooping. 

 Often the branches cover the trunk nearly to the ground. 

 " Birch brooms" are made from the twigs. 



