AMERICAN WHITE BIRCH; ASPEN-LEAVED BIRCH; GRA*> 

 BIRCH (Betula populifolia, Marsh). 20 to 30 feet; rarely 

 40 feet. Narrow, pyramidal, pointed tree, short-lived, with 

 contorted, often pendulous branches clothing the trunk to 

 the ground. Bark chalky white or grayish, that does not rub 

 off on clothing, with rough, triangular patches of black under 

 the branches or scars of lost ones, elsewhere smooth, not easily 

 separating into thin layers; orange-colored below surface, 

 turning black in fissures. Branches brown; twigs yellow, 

 shining. Wood brown, weak, close-grained, not durable, 

 soft, used for shoe-pegs, spools, wood pulp, and fuel. Leaves 

 triangular, long-pointed, irregularly lobed, saw-toothed, dark 

 green, paler beneath, 2 to 3 inches long, on slim, twisted peti- 

 oles; yellow in autumn. Flowers monoecious, before leaves, 

 April, in catkins formed in the previous season; staminate 2 

 to 4 inches long, turnip yellow; pistillate 1 inch long, green, 

 stiff. Fruit cylindrical cone, pubescent, blunt at both ends, 

 hanging on short stalk; seeds heart-shaped, with thin border 

 wing, each on a scaly bract, 3-lobed at top, downy. Dist.: 

 Swamp borders or gravelly ridges, often in considerable areas 

 of this tree alone, especially after forest fires; Nova Scotia 

 to Lake Ontario; south to Delaware; abundant on coast 

 region of New England, soon covering abandoned farms. 

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