844 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



cles. Scales of the strobiles having the side lobes roundish (Willd.) A 

 deciduous tree. Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania. Height 70 ft. to 80 ft. 

 Introd. 1767. Flowers greenish white ; May. Fruit brownish ; ripe in October. 



The young shoots and leaves, at their unfolding, are downy. Towards the 

 end of summer, when fully expanded, the leaves are perfectly smooth, except 

 the petiole, which remains covered with fine short hairs. The leaves are about 

 3^ in. long, and 2^ in. broad; oval, acuminate, and bordered with sharp 

 irregular teeth. The epidermis is of a brilliant golden yellow ; and the leaves, 

 the bark, and the young shoots, have all an agreeable taste and smell, similar 

 to those of the pliant birch (B. lenta), though they lose it in drying. In its 

 fructification, this species nearly resembles B. lenta. 



11. B. LE'NTA L. The pliant Birch. 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 464. ; Pursh Fl. Amer Sept., 2. p. 621. ; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 205. 



Synonymes. B. carpinifolia Ehrh. Beitr. 6 p. 99. ; B. nlgra Du Roi Herb. 1. p. 93 ; the plant is 

 under both these names, and also under that of B. lenta, in Loddiges's arboretum ; black Birch, 

 Cherry Birch, Canada Birch, Sweet Birch, Mountain Mahogany, Amer. ; Bouleau Merisier, Fr. ; 

 Betula della Virginia, Hal. 



Engravings. Wang. Beitr. t. 15. f. 34. ; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 2. 106. ; and our fig. 1541. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Leaves cordate-ovate, acutely serrated, acuminate ; petioles 

 and nerves hairy beneath. Scales of the strobiles smooth, having the side 

 lobes obtuse, equal, with prominent veins. (Willd.) A deciduous tree. 

 Canada to Georgia. Height 

 60ft. to 70 ft. Introd. 1759. 

 Flowers greenish white ; 

 May and June. Fruit 

 brown ; ripe in November. 



According to Pursh, this 

 is an elegant and large tree, 

 the most interesting of its 

 " the 

 Mi- 



chaux strongly recommends 

 the tree for cultivation, on a 

 large scale, in the north of 

 France, in England, and in 

 Germany ; and to the lovers 

 of curious trees, "as emi- 

 nently adapted, from the 

 beauty of its foliage and the 

 agreeable odour of its flow- 

 ers, to figure in their parks 

 and gardens." 



Species of Birch lately introduced. In Royle's Illustrations several species 

 ol birch are mentioned as occupying the loftiest stations in the mountains 

 of Nepal, and other parts of the Himalayas : B. Bhojputtra Wall., B. nitida, 

 B. cylindrostachya, B. resinifera Royle, and B. acuminata Wall. 



B. Bhojputtra Wall. The Indian Paper Birch. Leaves oblong-acute, 

 with nearly simple serratures, somewhat heart-shaped at the base; their 

 stalks, veins, and twigs hairy. Female catkins erect, cylindrical, oblong. 

 Bracteas smooth, woody, two-parted, blunt, much longer than the fruit, which 

 has narrow wings. A tree, found on the Alps of Gurwal, in Kamaon, where 

 its thin delicate bark furnishes the masses of flexible laminated matter, of 

 which great quantities are brought down into the plains of India, for lining 

 the tubes of hookahs ; and which is used by the mountaineers, instead of 

 paper, for writing upon. (Wall. Plant. As. Rar., vol ii. p. 7.) The bark of 

 this species is of a pale cinnamon colour. Raised in the Hort. Soc. Gard. in 1840. 



B. acuminata Wall. Leaves ovate lanceolate, sharply serrated, taper- 



genus, on account of 

 excellence of its wood. 



