MASSACHUSETTS FOREST TREES 



PAPER OR WHITE BIRCH (Betula papyri/era Marsh.) 



IN Massachusetts the Paper Birch, so called because 

 of the use to which the early settlers put the bark, 

 grows commonly in the middle and western parts of 

 the State and is very infrequent in the eastern sections. 

 Wherever found, its favorite home is the vicinity of 

 streams and swamps 

 and the damp, 

 wooded slopes. 



WHJTE QR pApER mRCH 



Leaves and fruit. 

 One-third natural size. 



In habit it is a 

 pyramidal tree of 

 graceful appearance, 



Commonly attaining 

 a height Of about 



fifty feet and a diameter of one to two feet. 

 The trunk is usually continuous, though it 

 may sometimes divide, and the slender 

 branches are horizontal or slightly pendulous. 

 When old or crowded, the Paper Birch loses 

 its lower branches and assumes a small, round 

 head. The bark on the trunk is white and 

 lustrous on the outer surface and orange on 

 the inner. It separates freely into* thin, 

 papery scales. The leaves are simple, alter- 

 nate, egg-shaped, apex not long -pointed, 

 three to four inches long, doubly toothed and winter twig 

 dark, lustreless green on the upper surface, one-half 

 The flowers are borne in catkins. The sterile naturalsize - 

 catkins which appear in the fall are mostly in clusters 

 of three. The wood is light, strong and hard. It is 

 used for spools, shoe lasts, pegs, in the making of 

 paper pulp and for fuel. 



WHITE 



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