BIRCH FAMILY 



toothed scale, two stamens, and subtended by two bractlets ; 

 filaments short, deeply two-cleft, each fork bearing an anther- 

 sac. Pistillate aments cylindric, erect, peduncled ; flowers two 

 or three in the axil of each bract ; the bracts three-lobed, lateral 

 lobes divergent, deciduous with the fruit ; ovary sessile, two- 

 celled ; styles two. 



Fruit. Strobile, oblong-cylindric, a half to an inch long, 

 erect, peduncled, obtuse at base and apex. Fruiting bract gla- 

 brous, three-lobed, lateral lobes divergent, rather shorter than the 

 middle one. Nut tiny, oblong, usually narrower than its wings. 



A little inland on the North Cape, the dwarf birch makes its appearance ; 

 when sheltered attaining a length of about a foot with a stem of a quarter to 

 a third of an inch in diameter, and requiring a generation or two to reach 

 these dimensions. It did not raise its top toward the sun, but crouched to 

 the earth, clinging to it like a creeping plant, to escape being torn away by 

 the force of the winds. 



" Land of the Midnight Sun." PAUL B. Du CHAILLU. 



SPECKLED ALDER. HOARY ALDER 



Alnus incana. 



Abuts, an ancient Latin name derived from the Celtic ; in 

 allusion to the growth of these plants along streams. 



The common northern brook-side alder, abundant at the edge 

 of streams and in swamps ; reaches a height of eight to ten feet. 

 Ranges from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania and west to Nebraska. 



Stems. Recent shoots and fruit stalks brown and downy, 

 dotted with orange lenticels, which gradually become ashen or 

 grayish brown. Those stems that are deeply shaded are often 

 deep red or dark green. All are speckled with conspicuous 

 light gray lenticels. 



Leaves. Alternate, simple, three to five inches long, two to 

 four inches wide, broad-oval, rounded or cordate at base, doubly 

 or irregularly serrate, acute at apex. They come out of the bud 

 very downy ; when full grown are bright dark green above, 

 pale, sometimes pubescent and often whitish, below ; midvein 

 and primary veins depressed above, ridged below. In autumn 

 they turn a bright, clear yellow. Petiole short, stout. 



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