TREES AND SHRUBS 



SILVER BIRCH, Betula alba. 



Woods, commons, parks, gardens. April, May. Prefers sandy and loamy 

 soils in cold situations. The "Lady of the Woods" is perhaps the most 

 picturesque of British trees. It makes a good hedge or screen. The species of 

 Betula are propagated by layers in October ; seeds sown in pans or boxes of 

 sandy soil in cold frame in autumn or spring, simply pressing seeds into soil, and 

 not covering ; or in sheltered borders in March. 



Flowers whitish, monoecious, appearing before leaves are fully out ; Male 

 catJihis at ends of shoots of previous year, no winter buds-scales, cylindrical, lax, 

 with broad, short-stalked peltate bracts, catkins 1-2 ins. long ; Stamens 6 to each 

 bract, in 3 pairs (flowers), with a scale-like sepal opposite each pair, filaments 

 forked, each branch bearing a single anther lobe ; Female catkins terminating 

 lateral dwarf shoots, enclosed by winter bud-scales, cylindrical and compact, \ in. 

 long, shortly stalked, erect at first, bracts usually 3-lobed and 3-flowered, 

 without perianth ; Ovary 2-celled, styles 2, stigmas 2, purple ; Fruit a small, 

 flat, broad-winged samara, with spreading side lobes, 1-celled, 1-seeded, ripe in 

 September — October. Bears usually after the twenty-fifth year. 



Leaves rhomboid-triangular, small, deeply serrated, glossy, coriaceous, 

 petioles long and slender, causing leaves to droop ; young leaves emit balsamic 

 odour ; stipules broad. 



A deciduous tree, 50-60 ft. ; Branches slender ; Tivigs numerous, small ; 

 Le?iti.cels on trunk |-4 ins. ; Ba7-k smooth, silvery-white, peeling in horizontal 

 bands, reddish-brown in young trees, corky on old trunks ; Wood light brown, 

 hard, even-grained, easily worked ; used for turnery, chair-making, cabinet-work, 

 hoops, barrels ; twigs for brooms ; bark for tanning. 



Native of Britain ; very hardy ; last to disappear in high latitudes or high 

 mountains. Name Birch from A.S. hirce, here, beorc, the Birch-tree. 



" Witch Knots," confused clusters of short twigs resembling a rook's nest, 



are produced by the fungus Exoascus turgicbis ; a somewhat similar growth, 



starting in axillary buds, is the work of a Gall-mite {Phijtoptus rudis ) ; Foliage 



destroyed by \\'^inter Moth {Cheimatobia brnmata), Mottled Umber Moth 



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