OF ORNAMENTAL TREES. 79 



ovate, sharp-pointed. Fertile catkins oblong, 

 with hairy scales. Black birch. Sometimes 

 red birch. 



There are several fine specimens at Bar- 

 tram, which have been styled "paper birches," 

 on account, as I presume, of their shaggy 

 bark. Others, correcting the error, have 

 styled them the B. rubra of Michaux, neither 

 of which I believe are in the collection ; nor 

 can I find them really in cultivation in the 

 vicinity.* Our kind is a very ornamental, 

 round-headed, pendulous, branching tree, and 

 thrives best in a rather moist situation. Its 

 white and yellow shaggy bark give it a pecu- 

 liar character, which interests even in winter. 



Propagated and cultivated as No. 1. 



4. B. POPULIFOLIA, Alton. Leaves del- 

 toid, much acuminated, unequally serrate. 

 Scale of the fertile catkin, with the middle 

 lobe acute, and smaller than the lateral ones. 

 American white birch. Poplar birch. 



The bark of this species is not of so fine 

 a silvery color as the European species. It 



* The B. rubra, MX. may possibly prove to be the same 

 as B. nigra, L. 



