BETULA 249 



son Bay and Alaska, south to N. Y., Pa., Ind., northern Iowa, Neb., Wyo. 

 and Wash. Blossoms in April and May, fruits in August and September. 

 Wood light brown, close-grained, strong and tough, weight 37 lbs. It 

 is used for making spools, shoe lasts and pegs, for wood pulp and fuel. 

 The Indians use the wood for making snow-shoe frames, sledges and 

 paddles, the bark in making canoes, receptacles for gathering maple sap, 

 drinking cups, and for covering tepees, the sap sometimes as a drink and 

 boiled down as a syrup. 



Betula verrucosa Ehrhart 1791 European White Birch 

 Betula alba Linne 1753 in part 



A small to medium-sized tree, 6-13 m. (20-40 ft.) high, bark white, 

 peeling slightly into papery layers except at the base where it is more 

 or less rough and furrowed and dark gray in color, branches slender and 

 more or less drooping, those of the year reddish and glandular-dotted j 

 leaves rhombic-ovate, broadly wedge-shaped or truncate at the base, 

 acuminate at the apex, doubly and usually unequally serrate, bright green 

 and glabrous on both sides, sometimes with glandular dots, ciliate along 

 the margins, 4-7 cm. long, 2.5-4 cm. wide, petiole glabrous, reddish, with 

 few, mostly dark glands, 2-3 cm. long; pistillate catkins on short, lateral 

 bi- foliate sboots, in fruit 2-3 cm. long, 7 mm. in diameter, pointing 

 towards the tip of the branch on which they are borne, peduncles 10-18 

 mm. long, the 3-parted bracts 5-6 mm. long, lateral lobes recurved, samara 

 5-6 mm. wide, wings much wider than the nutlet : verrucosa, warted. 



Introduced from Europe, frequently planted as a park tree, and passing 

 under the name of Betula alba Linne. It seems that Linne described 

 two different kinds of trees under the name of Betula alba, viz. the 

 preceding and B. pubescens. The two were separated by Ehrhart in 

 1791, and it seems advisable to retain the nomenclature which he proposed. 

 Blossoms in April-May, fruits Aug.-Sept. 



There are several cut leaf forms of B. verrucosa, such as var. 

 lobata and var. i n c i s a. "Betula elegantissima pendula" or "Betula 

 alba pendula elegans" is a form of Betula verrucosa with slender 

 drooping branches, commonly known as Weeping Birch. 



Betula populifolia Marshall 1785 var. laciniata Cut Leaf Birch 



A small tree, with deeply cut, long-pointed leaves, bark white, peeling 

 slightly on the branches ; twigs very slender ; leaves ovate, deeply cut and 

 lobed, long-pointed at the apex, broadly wedge-shaped at the base, gla- 



