CHAPTER XI 



Hornbeam, Hazel, Birch and Alder 



The various hornbeams, hazels, birches and alders belong to 

 the birch family or Betulaceae, which is a most important one from 

 both the aesthetic and pragmatic points of view. Its numerous 

 species are segregated into 6 main groups or genera, all of which 

 have many common features of wood, leaf, and flower structure. 

 The most uninformed are familiar with some of the birches, alders, 

 hazels and hornbeams — the hop hornbeam (Ostrya) is less well 

 known, leaving the genus Ostryopsis with a single species in eastern 

 Asia as the sole practically unknown member of the family. 



All of the genera except the last mentioned have numerous 

 species found in all the northern continents, and all these have 

 numerous extinct representatives. The only member of the family 

 that extends its range into the Southern Hemisphere is the alder 

 (Alnus) which has spread southward through the highlands of 

 Mexico and Central America to the Andes of Peru and Bolivia 

 where it is associated with familiar looking trumpet creepers and 

 blackberries. It will be more illuminating to briefly discuss each 

 of the types mentioned at the head of this chapter separately. 



THE birch, "the LADY OE THE WOODS" 



In considering the birches the aesthetic and the practical both 

 struggle for a hearing. Our northern forests are not adorned with 

 more beautiful or graceful trees than the white or silver birches, 

 and in some countries such as Russia and Kamchatka this lady of 

 the woods becomes a maid of all work and serves as many purposes 

 as does the palm in Arabia. Poets generally, unite in its praises, 

 but on the other hand Evelyn has not a word for the beauty of the 

 birch but praises the sovereign efi'ects of its juice when made into 

 birch beer. 



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