B42 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



A very graceful tree, with rather broader 

 leaves than the common birch. The wood is 

 very soft, brilliant when polished, and perfectly 

 white ; but it speedily decays, and, in America, 

 is employed for no purpose, not even for fuel. 

 The twigs are too brittle for common brooms. 

 When the plants are raised from seed, they 

 make verv handsome trees ; and, as seed is 

 freely produced, this mode ought always to be 

 adopted ; but plants from layers seldom attain 

 any magnitude. 



"t 8. B. papyra'cea Ait. 



The Paper Birch. 



Du Ham. 



1534, B. populitblia. 



Fruit brown ; ripe 



in 



Identification. Ait. Hort. Kew., 3. p. 337. ; N. 



3. p. 20.1. ; Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 621. 

 Syitonymes. B. papyrifera Mic/ix. Fl. Bar. Amer. 2. p. 180. ; 



B. lanceolata Hurt.; B. rubra Lodd. Cat. ed. 1836; B. 



canadensis Lodd. Cat. ; B. nigra of the Paris nurseries ; 



Canoe Birch, white Birch, Amer. ; Betula da carta, Ital. 

 Engravings. Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 2. t. 3-5. ; the plate of 



tliis tree in Arb. Brit., 1st edit., vol. vii. ; and our^gs. 153.5. 



and 1536. 



Spec. Char., l^-c. Leaves ovate, acuminate, 

 doubly serrate ; veins hairy beneath ; petiole 

 glabrous. Female catkins on long footstalks, 

 drooping; scales having the side lobes short, somewhat orbiculate. (Willd.) 

 A deciduous tree. North America, Height 60 ft. to 70 ft. Introduced in 

 1750. Flowers greenish white; May and June 

 October. Decaying leaves greenish yellow. 



Varieties. 



1 B. p. 2 fiiscn. B. fusca Bosc. Leaves smaller than those of the spe- 



cies, and less downy. 



2 B. jo. 3 trichoclnda Hort. Branches extremely hairy, and twigs in 



threes ; leaves heart-shaped. Horticultural Society's Garden. 

 S B. jD. 4 plati)i>hyUa Hort. Leaves very broad. Hort. Soc. Garden. 

 The branches are much less flexible than those 

 of the common birch, and are more ascending in 

 direction. The bark, in Canada and the district 



of Maine, is em- 

 ployed for many 



purposes. It is 



placed in large 



pieces immediately 



under the shingles 



of the roof, to 



prevent the water 



from penetrating 



through it. Bas- 

 kets, boxes, and 



portfolios are made 



of it, which are 



sometimes embroi- 

 dered with silk of 



different colours. 



Divided into very 



thin sheets, it forms 



a substitute for 



paper ; and, placed 



between the soles of the shoes, and in the crown of the hat (as the hark of 

 the birch of Europe is in Lapland), it is a defence against humidity. But the 

 most important purpose to which it is applied, and one in which it is replaced 



^^=^ 



1535. B. papyrkcea. 



ISj'S. B. papvracea. 



