BIRCH 



171 



Periderm reddish or coppery -brown, 

 with a silvery glance on the very thin 

 exfoliating laminae, but not opaque 

 white. Small trees; leaves not rhomboid', 

 twigs stif and erect, or, at least, not 

 very slender and pendent. 



Jf Small catkin-bearing tree, usually 

 converted into a shrub by the nume- 

 rous shoots thrown up from roots and 



Fig. 77. Birch (Bcttda alba) : rough bark and base of stem (Irv). 



