BIRCH FAMILY 



with the ripening nut, they show a rare scheme of 

 color which varies from yellows through browns to 

 red ; and the dense hairs give a velvety look. The 

 nuts are all terminal, but out of a cluster that seem to 

 start even, two or three outstrip the rest and grow, 

 the others abort, leaving their little bottle necks to 

 show where they began life. 



LOW BIRCH. BOG BIRCH 



Betula pitmila. Betiila humilis. 

 Betitla, an ancient name of uncertain derivation. 



A bog shrub two to fifteen feet high, with twigs densely pubes- 

 cent at first, afterward glabrous. Ranges from Newfoundland to 

 the Northwest Territories, southward to New Jersey, Ohio and 

 Minnesota. 



Leaves. Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, veins very prom- 

 inent beneath, one-half to an inch and a half long, obovate, 

 broadly oval or orbicular, rounded or wedge-shaped at base, 

 coarsely and irregularly dentate, obtuse or slightly acute at apex. 

 They come out of the bud pale green, densely pubescent, brown- 

 ish ; when full grown are thick, dull green, pubescent or glabrous 

 above, pale green, brownish tomentose or glabrous and very retic- 

 ulately-veined beneath. Autumnal tint clear, bright yellow. 

 Petioles short. Stipules fugacious. 



Flowers. May, June, with the leaves. Monoecious ; the 

 flowers of both kinds borne in catkins. Staminate flower consists 

 of a four-toothed perianth, subtended by two bractlets and bear- 

 ing two stamens ; filaments short, deeply two-cleft ; each fork 

 bearing an anther-sac. Pistillate flowers two or three in the axil 

 of each bract, the bracts deciduous with the fruits ; perianth 

 none; ovary sessile, two-celled ; styles two, mostly persistent. 



Fruit. Strobile, oblong-cylindric, about three-fourths of an 

 inch long, erect, peduncled. Fruiting bract puberulent or cili- 

 ate, three-lobed, lateral lobes shorter than the middle one. Nut 

 small, oblong, rather broader than its wings. 



456 



