204 THE BIRCH. 



destitute of bark, and send out from the upper part many 

 short branches. The rigid leaves are a mere expansion of 

 the stem, and terminate each in a single sharp spine. The 

 small green flowers are solitary in the centre of the leaves, 

 and the fertile ones are succeeded by bright scarlet berries 

 as large as cherries which remain attached to the plant all 

 the winter. The young shoots are sometimes eaten like 

 those of Asparagus, a plant to which it is closely allied ; 

 when matured they are bound in bundles, and sold to the 

 butchers, who use them for sweeping their blocks. The 

 name Knee-holly appears to have been given from its rising 

 to about the height of a man's knee, and from its having, 

 like the true Holly, prickly leaves. 



THE BIRCH. 



BETULA ALBA. 



Natural Order AMENTACE.K. 



Class MONCECIA. Order POLYANDRIA. 



No tree is more generally or more deservedly admired en 

 the ground of its own intrinsic beauty than the Birch. 

 As the Oak has no tree to vie with itself in the sterner 

 attributes of majesty, dignity, and strength, so the 



" most beautiful 

 Of forest trees, the Lady of the Woods," 



stands unrivalled in lightness, grace, and elegance. In 

 one respect it even claims procedence over the monarch of 

 the forest, and that one which its slender and delicate 

 form would least lead us to expect : it stands in need of no 

 protection from other trees in any stage of its growth, and 

 loves the bleak mountain-side and other exposed situations, 

 from which the sturdy Oak shrinks with dismay. But 

 the style of beauty in which each of these trees excels is 

 so widely different in kind, that neither of them can 

 properly interfere with the other. 



