1706 



ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. 



PART III, 



1558 



Canada, of high mountains 

 in New York and Penn- 

 sylvania, where it does not 

 grow above 2 ft. or 3 ft. high, 

 and flowers in May and June. 

 The root is red, and is used 

 for inlaying. It was intro- 

 duced in 1762; and there 

 are plants at Messrs. Lod- 

 diges's. It appears but little 

 different from the preceding 

 sort, and both are probably 

 only stunted varieties of J5. 

 alba. 



& 5. B. NA V NA L. The dwarf Birch. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1394. ; Willd. Sp. PL, 4. p. 465. ; Fl. Br., 1012. ; Eng. FL, 4. p. 154. ; 



Hook. Scot, p. 274. ; Dicks. H. Sice., fasc. 8. 16. ; Khrh. Arb., 18. ; Gagneb. Act. Helvct, 1. 



p. 58. ; Lind. Wicksb., 5. ; Hayne Dend., p. 168. ; Pursh FL Amer. Sept., 2. p. 262. ; Lodd. Cat., 



ed. 1836- 

 Synonymes. B. nana Suecbrum Bromel. Chi. Goth,, 11., Linn. Act. Sufc., 1735, 15. ; B No. 1629 , 



HcUl. Hist., 2. p. 300. ; B. No. 259., Amm. Ruth., 180. ; B. palustris pumila, &c., Celt. Act. Suec., 



Engravings. Am. Acad., 1. t. 1. ; Eng. Bot, t. 2326. ; Fl. Lapp., ed. 2., t. 6. f. 4. ; Lightf., t. 25. ; 

 Pall. Ross., 1. t. 40. f. D. G. ; Fl. Dan., t. 91. ; and our Jig. 1559. 



Spec. Char.> $r. Leaves orbicular, crenate, reticulated with veins beneath. 

 (Eng. Fl., iv. p. 154.) A bushy shrub, seldom exceeding 2 ft. or 3 ft. in 

 height ; with numerous branches, slightly downy when young, and beset with 

 numerous, little, round, firm, smooth, sharply crenated 

 leaves, beautifully reticulated with veins, especially 

 beneath ; and furnished with short footstalks, having 

 a pair of brown lanceolate stipules at their base. Cat- 

 kins erect, stalked, cylindrical, obtuse ; the barren ones 

 lateral, and the fertile ones terminal. Scales of the 

 latter 3-lobed, 3-flowered, permanent. Stigmas red. 

 (Smith's Eng. Fl., vol. iv. p. 155.) A native of Lap- 

 land, Sweden, Russia, and Scotland, in Europe ; and of 

 Hudson's Bay, and other parts of Canada, in America; 

 on mountains, but almost always in boggy places. Ac- 

 cording to Pallas, it is common in the whole of the 

 north of Russia and Siberia ; but not on the moun- 

 tains of Altai or Caucasus. In wet situations, he says, 

 the shoots grow to the length of 6 ft. ; and, in a state of 

 cultivation, they grow as high as 9 ft., and assume an erect form. This shrub 

 is of singular use in the domestic economy of the inhabitants of Lapland. 

 Its branches furnish them with their beds, and their chief fuel ; its leaves, 

 with a better yellow dye than that obtained from the common birch ; its 

 seeds afford nourishment to the ptarmigan, or white partridge (!Tetrao 

 Z/agopus L.), which supplies a considerable portion of their food, and also 

 forms an important article of commerce ; and, for their medicine, it produces 

 the fungus Polyporus fomentarius Mich., respecting which some details will 

 be found under the head of Quercus, sect, jffobur, from which themoxa, or 

 amadou, is prepared, and which the Laplanders consider an efficacious 

 remedy in all painful diseases. Such is the wonderful power of adaptation 

 of man, in a country possessing few natural resources. B. nana has been 

 in cultivation in Britain since the days of Miller, and is by no means un- 

 frequent in collections. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, is 2s. 

 each ; and of seeds, 6d. per packet. At New York, plants are 25 cents each. 



Varieties. 



x B. n. 2 stricta Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, is somewhat more erect in habit 

 than the species. There are plants at Messrs. Loddigcs's. Pallas men- 



