276 



TREES GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 



*m 



its white bark and exquisitely-shaped and fluttering leaves 

 show to great advantage. 



Commercially it is not of any very great 

 value. Its soft, weak wood is too perishable. 

 Spools and barrel-hoops are made from it, 

 and upon the hearth it finds a welcome 

 place. 



Bitula pcnd-tila, weeping birch, is a Euro- 

 pean species, which is extensively planted in 

 this country. Its drooping branches and 

 delicate, soft leaves are extremely attrac- 

 tive. 



HOP-HORNBEAM. IRON-WOOD. 



(Plate CLI.) 

 Ustrya Virgtnidna. 



LEVERWOOD. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Birch. Head, round; branches, 2060 feet. From the north, sou*h- April, May. 



drooping at the ends. ward and "westward. Fruit: July, Sept. 



Bark: brownish; furrowed vertically, and scaly. Branchlets : purplish 

 brown, and dotted with grey; lustrous. Leaves ; simple; alternate; with 

 short, rough petioles ; oblong-lanceolate ; taper-pointed at the apex and 

 rounded at the base ; often unequal ; doubly and sharply serrate; dark, yellow- 

 green above ; almost smooth ; lighter coloured below and tufted in the axils of 

 the straight veins. Flowers : growing in long catkins ; the staminate ones 

 about two inches long, with scales fringed on the margins. Pistillate catkins : 

 shorter. Fruit: green; growing in long, drooping, hop-like strobiles, with 

 entire, overlapping scales, or sacs which are bristly at their bases. Nuts : 

 flattened. 



Those that see this tree usually stop awhile and carefully 



regard its birch-like leaves and its swinging clusters of yellow 



tinted fruit. Both are very beautiful, but hardly more so 



than are its flower clusters when they begin to lengthen in 



early spring. It is said that the furrows on the bark of this 



tree are finer than those of any other with a rough bark, and 



that, as it grows older, this feature becomes more pronounced. 



It contains considerable tannin. The tree is very shapely 



and generally small. It is not common. For this reason its 



wood which is hard and strong and receives a high polish has 



