FAMILIAR TREES. 



THE BIRCH. 



Betiula al'ba L. 



If the Oak and the Beech contend for the rank of 

 king, there is no doubt as to the right of the Birch, 

 clad as she is in cloth of silver, adorned with 

 emeralds, or with " patines of pure gold," to the 

 title of Lady of the Woods, bestowed on her by 

 Coleridge. Often has this tree roused the enthusi- 

 asm of both the artist and the writer ; but, useful 

 as it has been in other ages, and as it still is in 

 other lands, it is now mainly for its aesthetic value 

 as part of some of our most beautiful landscapes 

 that we treasure it. 



The very name Birch, in its identity with " bark," 

 " barque," or " barge," suggests the time when its 

 silver rind formed the canoes of our early British 

 ancestors, such as have been found buried in the 

 gravels of the banks of the Clyde. This etymology 

 does not seem, however, to have suggested itself to 

 Turner, since in his " Names of Herbes " (1548) he 

 simply says : " Betula or, as some wryte it, betulla 

 is called in greeke, Semida ; in englishe, a birch 

 tree, or a birke tree ; in duche, ein birck baum ; in 

 french, bouleau or beula. It groweth in woodes 

 and forestes." 



The genus Betula, to which the Birch belongs, 



40 1 



