Southern Yellow Birch 



257 



trunks becomes deeply fissured and broken into plates. The branches, at first, 

 are nearly erect, but the lower ones of older trees widely spreading. The young 

 twigs are green and loosely hairy, becoming smooth, shining, and reddish brown. 

 The buds are about 7 mm. long, pointed and shining. The young leaves are silky- 

 hairy, the old ones hairy only along the veins 

 on the under side; they are ovate or oblong- 

 ovate, thin, pointed, sometimes rather long- 

 pointed, 6 to 12 cm. long, finely and sharply 

 toothed, often doubly toothed, usually cordate 

 but sometimes rounded at the base, bright 

 green and somewhat shining above, pale green 

 beneath, the veins prominent on the under side 

 but inconspicuous on the upper; the leaf- 

 stalks are 6 to 12 mm. long, the stipules ovate, 

 pointed, hairy-fringed. The tree flowers in 

 April or May. The staminate catkins are 

 borne several together and are 6 to 10 cm. 

 long. The ripe pistillate catkins are broadly 

 oblong, blunt, not stalked, 2 to 3 cm. long, 



., . 1 1 iU u 4- Fig. 21^. Cherry Birch. 



their scales 4 or 5 mm. long, smooth, about ^ 



equally 3-lobed above the middle ; the nut is oblong to obovate and rather broader 



than its wings. 



The wood is largely used for furniture and makes excellent fuel; it is locally 

 used for boat-building; it is hard, strong, dark brown, with a specific gravity of 

 about 0.76. The wood and bark yield birch oil by distillation, which is nearly 

 identical with oil of wintergreen, used for flavoring, and in medicine as a stim- 

 ulant. Birch-beer is the fermented sap. The tree grows rapidly, flourishing best 

 when associated with other species. 



14. SOUTHERN YELLOW BIRCH Betula aUeghanensis Britton 



This tree resembles the Cherry birch and the Yellow birch and has been con- 

 fused with both of them. It attains about the same size as the former, but is smaller 

 than the Yellow birch, and occurs in woodlands from Massachusetts to Quebec 

 and northern Michigan, south to southern New York, Pennsylvania, and south- 

 ward in the mountains to Georgia. 



Its bark is either close and furrowed or peels off in thin yellowish gray layers. 

 The young twigs are long-hairy and green, becoming brown and shining, ultimately 

 gray and shghtly aromatic. The buds are smooth, their scales shghtly hairy- 

 fringed. The leaves are ovate or ovate-oblong, usually long- pointed, 12 cm. long 

 or less, sharply and rather coarsely toothed, mostly cordate but sometimes 

 rounded at the base, long-hairy when young, when mature dark green, smooth, and 

 dull above, yellow-green and more or less hairy on the veins beneath. The hairy 



