BETULA 263 



B. ULMIFOLIA, Siebold and Zuccarim. 



A tree 50 to 70 ft. high ; young shoots slightly hairy, and with a few 

 scattered, whitish lenticels ; buds ovate, slender-pointed, of a pale shining 

 green, not viscid. Leaves ovate-oblong, mostly heart-shaped, often unequal 

 at the base, slenderly pointed, irregularly toothed, the teeth finely pointed 

 and often incurved ; 2 to 3 ins. long, half as wide ; dull green with flattened, 

 silky hairs all over the upper surface, but confined to the veins and midrib 

 beneath ; the lower surface is also dotted with glands ; veins in about twelve 

 pairs ; stalk to \ in. long, hairy. Fruiting catkins egg-shaped, f in. long, 

 irt. wide ; scales downy, the middle lobe blunt, and about twice as long as 

 the side ones. 



Native of Japan ; very, rare in cultivation. The above description is made 

 from a tree at Kew received from Tokyo in 1896, as B. grossa. Prof. Henry, 

 however, compared it with Zuccarini's type specimen of B. ulmifolia preserved 

 at Munich and found them identical (see Trees of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 P 979)- Except for a certain liability to injury by late spring frost, it is 

 apparently hardy, and distinct in its leaf-buds and heart-shaped, many-ribbed 

 leaves. 



B. UTILIS, D. Don. HIMALAYAN BIRCH. 



(B. Bhojpattra, Wallich.} 



A tree 60 ft. high, with a creamy white trunk and branches ; bark peeling 

 off in papery flakes ; young shoots densely covered with grey down, becoming 

 reddish brown. Leaves ovate, rounded at the base, pointed, 2 to 3^ ins. 

 long, about two-thirds as wide, rather coarsely and irregularly toothed ; 

 upper surface dark green, with scattered down ; lower surface pale, downy 

 on the midrib and veins, the latter in nine to twelve pairs ; leaf-stalk f 

 in. long, downy ; fruiting catkins \\ ins. long, ^ in. diameter, cylindrical ; 

 scales downy on the margins, the middle one considerably the longer, and 

 rounded at the end. 



Native of the Himalaya; introduced by Sir Joseph Hooker in 1849; 

 perhaps before, certainly several times since, from which, judging by its 

 rarity, it would seem that it is not very hardy. A tree over 30 ft. high, planted 

 by the late Mr Chambers at Grayswood in 1882, is the best I know. Young 

 plants have been raised at Kew from its seed, but have not yet had to with- 

 stand hard frost. In a letter Mr Chambers remarked that the bark of his 

 tree "even to the branches is creamy white, the young twigs of an orange- 

 chocolate, very pretty in winter." Some trees also exist in Trinity College 

 Botanic Gardens, Dublin. (See also B. JACQUEMONTII.) 



B. VERRUCOSA, Ehrhart. SILVER BIRCH. 



(B. alba, Linnceus, in part ; B. pendula, Roth?) 



A tree ordinarily from 40 to 60, occasionally over 100 ft. high, with a 

 silvery white trunk ; branches pendulous at the ends ; young wood not 

 downy, but furnished with glandular warts. Leaves broadly ovate, sometimes 

 rather diamond-shaped ; I to 2?r ins. long, f to \\ ins. wide ; broadly wedge- 

 shaped or truncate at the base, slenderly tapered at the apex, doubly toothed ; 

 not downy, but dotted with glands on both surfaces ; stalk \ to in. long. 

 Fruiting catkins f to i j ins. long, \ in. wide, cylindrical ; scales smooth except 

 on the margin ; middle lobes the smallest. 



Native of Europe (including Britain), especially of high latitudes; also 

 of parts of N. Asia. This birch, with B. pubescens (g.v.\ forms the B. alba 

 of Linnaeus, but most authorities now concur in separating them. The species 



