56 Trees with Simple Leaves. [An 



The outer bark of the mature trunk is chalky-white and 

 thin, but not, like the bark of the Paper-birch, easily 

 separable into layers. Usually it is marked with 

 blackish dots and lines. Often the branchlets and 

 twigs are blackish, and in very young trees the bark 

 may be light reddish-brown, and marked with white 

 dots. 



Found, on poor soil, from Delaware and Pennsylvania 

 northward (mostly toward the coast), and in orna- 

 mental cultivation. It springs up abundantly over 

 burned and abandoned lands. 



A slender, short-lived tree, twenty to thirty feet high, 

 with white, soft wood, not durable ; used largely in mak- 

 ing spools, shoe-pegs, etc., and for fuel. 



A still more graceful cultivated species is the Eu- 

 ropean Weeping Birch [B. pendula]. Its branches are 

 very drooping, with more slender leaves, and a spray that 

 is exceedingly light and delicate, especially in early 

 spring. 



Fig. 28. Paper Birch, Canoe Birch, White Birch. B. papy- 

 rifera, Marsh. 



Leaves, SIMPLE ; ALTERNATE ; EDGE SHARPLY AND UN- 

 EQUALLY DOUBLE-TOOTHED. 



Outline, egg-shaped. Apex, pointed. Base, rounded, 

 slightly heart-shaped, or, rarely, wedge-shaped. 



Leaf-stem, downy. 



