17. BETULA LUTEA YELLOW BIRCH. 65 



veined, sharply and rather coarsely doubly serrate, smooth when old; petioles short 

 and downy. The leaves in autumn, after the action of frosts, turn to a pale-yellow 

 color. Sterile catkins 2-4 in. long, pendulous. Fruiting catkins sessile, erect, 

 oblong-ovoid, 1 in. or less in length and | to in. in thickness; scales of catkin 

 nearly or quite - in. long, rather thin, and with 3 subequal, acute and slightly 

 diverging lobes. 



(The specific name, lutea, is a Latin adjective meaning yellow, in allusion to the 

 color of the bark.) 



A tree invested with a yellowish, pearly or silver-gray outer bark, 

 which peels off horizontally in thin strips or layers, and hangs loosely 

 and ribbon-like, or is coiled up in rolls, giving old trunks a very ragged 

 appearance. The inner bark, especially of the twigs, is pleasantly 

 aromatic, of flavor quite similar to that of the Wintergreen. In forests 

 it attains and sometimes surpasses the dimensions of 80 ft. (24 m.) in 

 height and 3 ft. (0.91 m.) in thickness of trunk. 



HABITAT. A Northern species, found throughout north-eastern 

 United States, Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, westward lit- 

 tle, if any, beyond the Great Lakes, and southward to North Carolina 

 and Tennessee, but there only among the Alleganies. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood hard, close-grained, tough, heavy and 

 very strong, compact, taking a beautiful satiny polish. Color light 

 reddish -brown with nearly white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.6553; 

 Percentage of Ash, 0.31; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.6533; 

 Coefficient of Elasticity, 161723; Modulus of Rupture, 1248; Resistance 

 to Longitudinal Pressure, 619; Resistance to Indentation, 161; Weight 

 of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 40.84. 



USES. This wood is very valuable as fuel, and is used extensively by 

 wheel-wrights and cabinet-makers. The three-ply chair bottoms in com- 

 mon use are made very largely of this timber. It is also valuable in the 

 manufacture of the friction-pulleys, and the smallest wooden articles, 

 such as clothes-pins, button and tassel molds, pill-boxes, etc. Young 

 saplings, cut lengthwise through the center, make excellent and strong 

 hoops for casks, etc. Burls, or " knots " as they are often called, are not 

 uncommon on this timber, although not often cut into veneering, as are 

 those of the Black Ash and some other timbers. They are highly prized 

 for mallets, beetles, etc. The bark is used to some extent for tanning 

 purposes, and the volatile oil, used for imparting the flavor of Birch to 

 candies, soda-water, etc., is derived to some extent from this species, 

 though mostly from the Sweet Birch (B. lento). 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. None are recorded of this species. 



ORDER SALICACEJE. WILLOW FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, simple, undivided and furnished with stipules, which are either 

 scale-like and deciduous, or leaf -like and persistent. Flotcers dioecious, both kinds 

 in catkins, one under each bract or scale of the catkin, and destitute of both calyx 



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