YELLOW BIRCH; GRAY Tiacn (Betula lutea, Michx.). 50 to 

 75 feet; rarely 100 feet. Medium-sized, broad, round-topped 

 tree with drooping branchlets. Bark rough, gray, or brown, 

 deeply furrowed into plates coated with the silky yellow 

 epidermis that curls and persists for years, limbs smooth, 

 with same silvery yellow, frayed into ribbons; twigs pubescent 

 the first season. Wood brownish red, hard, close-grained, 

 strong, used for furniture, finish of houses, wheel hubs, but- 

 tons, boxes, and fuel. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long, ovate to 

 oblong, pointed, saw-toothed, oblique at base, dull, dark 

 green, paler beneath, turning yellow. Flowers before leaves, 

 April, in catkins, monoecious: staminate in 3's, 3 to 4 inches 

 long, brownish yellow, pendulous, with abundant pollen; 

 pistillate less than an inch long, cylindrical, green, turning 

 rosy, hairy- tipped. Fruit stout, oblong or ovoid cones, 

 erect, on short stems, scales triangular, 3-cleft at top; seed 

 heart-shaped, with narrow, circular wing. Dist.: Moist up- 

 land soil, Newfoundland to New England, Delaware, North 

 Carolina, and Tennessee; west to Minnesota. Largest size 

 and most abundant in New England and eastern Canada. 



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