YELLOW BIRCH 



(Betula Luted) 



THERE is little likelihood of mistaking the yellow birch for any other 

 as it stands in the woods. Its points of individuality may be 

 discovered on slight acquaintance, and there is little need of studying 

 leaves, flowers, and fruit to find ways of distinguishing this birch from 

 other members of the family. Its tattered, yellow and gray bark fixes 

 it in the memory of all who have seen it a few times. Two other eastern 

 birches have tattered, curling bark also, but they do not look like this. 

 They are the paper birch and the river birch. The former is too white to 

 be mistaken for yellow birch, and the river birch is too much the color of 

 bronze or copper. Yellow birch is named from the color of its bark, the 

 part which shows when the outer layers break and roll back, disclosing 

 the fresh, smooth, satiny layers below. Sometimes the tree is called 

 silver birch, gray birch, or swamp birch. 



Its geographic range is bounded by a line drawn from New- 

 foundland to northern Minnesota, southward through the Lake States, 

 and along the Atlantic coast to Delaware. It follows the Appalachian 

 ranges of mountains to eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. 

 Generally the tree is small near the southern limit of its range. The 

 best grows in Michigan and Wisconsin, but it is of considerable impor- 

 tance in Minnesota. 



Few trees are better equipped than yellow birch to perpetuate their 

 species. It is an abundant seeder, and the seeds are light, winged, and 

 they are scattered by wind over long distances. Sometimes they are 

 carried miles. Of course, most of them fall in unfavorable places, and 

 either do not germinate or perish soon after; but they are not particularly 

 choice in situations, and will grow on bare mineral soil, even in old fields, 

 where they are flooded with sunshine, or they will grow in deep shade 

 where a beam of sunlight seldom touches them. They often germinate 

 without touching mineral soil, and take root quickly and grow vigorously. 



It is not unusual in the northern part of the tree's range, and on 

 high mountains farther south, to see yellow birches standing on high, 

 spreading roots, two, three, or four feet above the ground. That 

 peculiar attitude is brought about by the manner in which the seed begins 

 to grow. It falls on moss which occupies the top of a log or a stump. 

 The moss in the deep shade retains much moisture, and the seed germi- 

 nates, grows, sends roots down the sides of the log or the stump until they 

 strike mineral soil, and become firmly fixed. In course of time the log 

 or stump decays, and the spreading roots continue to sustain the 



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