Betula 991 



BETULA LENTA, Cherry Birch, Black Birch 



Betula lenta, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 983 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 17 13 (1838); Sargent, 

 Silva JV. Amer. ix. 50, t. 448 (1896), and Trees N. Amer. 196 (1905); Winkler, Betulacem, 64 

 (1904). 



Betula nigra, Du Roi, Obs. 30 (1 77 1) (not Linnaeus). 



Betula carpinifolia, Ehrhart, Beit. Naturk. vi. 99 (1791) (not Siebold and Zuccarini). 



A tree, attaining in America 80 feet in height and 2 to 5 feet in diameter. 

 Bark smooth, close, dark brown, with pale, elongated, horizontal lenticels, peeling off 

 transversely in thin strips ; on old trunks deeply fissured and broken into large, 

 irregular scaly plates. Young branchlets glabrous, except for a few hairs above the 

 leaf-insertions, slightly glandular. 



Leaves (Plate 269, Fig. 3), l\ to 5 inches long, \\ to 3 inches wide, ovate- 

 oblong, rounded or slightly cordate at the base, acuminate at the apex ; margin 

 non-ciliate, bi-serrate ; nerves nine to thirteen pairs ; upper surface dark green with 

 a few long hairs confined to the midrib and nerves or scattered throughout ; lower 

 surface lighter in colour, with silky hairs on the midrib and nerves, forming axil- 

 tufts ; petiole pilose at first, ultimately glabrescent. 



Fruiting-catkins (Plate 269, Fig. 3) erect, sessile, ovoid-oblong, 1 to \\ inch 

 long, \ inch in diameter ; scales glabrous, with nearly equal lobes, the lateral lobes 

 being divergent. 



This species is characterised by the pleasant aromatic flavour and fragrance of 

 the leaves, twigs, and inner bark ; and on that account is sometimes named sweet 

 birch in America. It is, however, more often called, on account of the colour of 

 the bark, cherry birch or black birch. In winter the twigs are shining and almost 

 glabrous ; buds fusiform, T 5 5 inch long, ending in a sharp beak, brownish, viscid, 

 shining. 



Var. laciniata, Rehder, in Rhodora, ix. 11 1 (1907). Leaves with six to nine 

 pairs of sharply serrated lobes. A single tree of this variety, which resembles 

 B. verrucosa, var. dalecarlica, in the form of the leaves, was found in 1901 at 

 New Boston in New Hampshire. 



A hybrid between this species and B. pumila, L., has been described by 

 Sargent. 1 (A. H.) 



This species is an inhabitant of Newfoundland and Canada from Nova Scotia 

 to Lake Superior, growing in its greatest perfection in central Ontario, Algoma, 

 and Parry Sound, where Macoun says it is often more than 4 feet in diameter. In 

 the United States it extends west to Iowa, and along the Alleghany Mountains to 

 Kentucky and Tennessee, attaining a large size in the valleys of North Carolina. 

 Ashe figures on plate 1 2 of his work a splendid tree 80 feet in height, with a clean 

 bole 5 feet in diameter. He says the bark is reddish brown and rough on old 

 trees, while on young trees and branches it is smooth and dark, resembling that 



1 Garden and Forest, viii. 243, fig. 36 (1895). 



