Betula 989 



and ciliate. The fruit ripens in May or June, and Sargent has called attention to 

 the fact that the early ripening of the seeds of this and other trees, as the red and 

 silver maples, growing beside rivers assures their germination, as they fall on the 

 banks at the season of low water, immediately germinate, and grow speedily. 



Betula nigra is readily distinguishable by its peculiar bark, the only other 

 species in cultivation which at all resembles it in this respect being B. dahurica. It 

 is also very distinct in the greyish colour of the leaves beneath, which are cuneate 

 at the base, acute and not acuminate at the apex, and usually lobulate in margin 

 with sharp double serrations. 



In winter the twigs are brown, glandular, and almost glabrous; buds minute, 

 inch long, appressed to the branchlet, with a sharp beak directed inwards ; scales 

 ciliate and pubescent. 



This species, which is known as the red or water birch, 1 grows usually on the 

 banks of streams and ponds or in swamps, in deep rich soil, liable to inundation. It 

 occurs from Massachusetts, southwards to Florida, east of the Alleghany Mountains ; 

 through the Gulf States to Trinity River, Texas ; and throughout the Mississippi 

 valley to Indian territory, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio. It 

 attains its largest size in the damp lowlands of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, being 

 the only birch tree of these warm regions. (A. H.) 



Sargent says 2 that its distribution is peculiar, as though it grows abundantly 

 and luxuriantly on the banks of the Merrimac and S picket rivers in north-east 

 Massachusetts, it occurs nowhere else in New England, and only becomes common 

 in the south of New Jersey, extending from thence to Iowa in the west, and to 

 Florida and Texas in the south, growing in the south on the banks of almost every 

 stream which has a gravelly bed, and of which the banks are not marshy, and 

 attaining a height of 80 or 90 feet with a trunk 3 to 4 feet in diameter ; but in North 

 Carolina, according to Ashe, its average size is 40 to 60 feet high by 1 to 2 feet 

 in diameter. 



It was introduced into cultivation in England by Peter Collinson in 1736 ; but 

 is rarely met with, though it ought to be more^ suitable for cultivation 8 in the 

 warmer parts of England than the more northern species. There are several good 

 specimens in Kew Gardens, the largest, near the rhododendron dell, being 57 feet 

 high and 5 feet in girth. This tree divides at 7 feet from the ground into two main 

 stems ; and one or two smaller trees in the collection of birches branch similarly near 

 the ground into two or three stems. A tree near the Victoria gate has a single 

 stem, 48 feet in height and 4% feet in girth. Some of these trees bore ripe fruit in 

 June 1908. 



Though Sargent says that large specimens may be seen in some of the older 

 European parks, neither Parde nor Correvon mention any trees of this species ; but 

 Bean 4 saw one 7^ feet in girth at Herrenhausen, Hanover. (H. J. E.) 



1 It is also known as the river birch, and though known to botanists as B. nigra, it is very seldom called in America 

 black birch, the latter name being very commonly applied to B. lenla. Garden and Forest, ii. 591. 



3 In an article on this tree, in Gard. Chron. xxv. 21 (1899), Mr. Bean recommends it for ornamental planting on low 

 islands in lakes, and beside water-courses. 



* Kew Bull., 1908, p. 392. 



