252 BETULACE.E. 



Parts used. — The leaves and tops — not official. 



Constituents. — The most important constituents are volatile oil and tan- 

 nin. 



Preparations. — Commonly used in decoction. 



Medical Proj^eiiies and Uses. — Sweet-fern is stimulant and astringent. 

 It is occasionally employed as a domestic remedy in diarrhoea, cohc, etc. 



BETULACE>E. 



Character of the Order. — Trees or shrubs with simple, alternate, stipu- 

 late leaves, often strongly feather-veined. Flowers monoecious, in scaly 

 catkins, 2 or 3 under each bract, and without a perianth. Ovary 2-celled ; 

 stigmas 2. Fruit a dry, 1-celled, 1-seeded, often winged nut. 



A small order inhabiting chiefly the northern temperate regions. 



BBTUL A. — Birch. 



Betula lenta Linne. — Siveet, Black, or Cherry Birch. 



Description. — Staminate flowers 3, under each scale of the catkin, each 

 with 4 short stamens. Pistillate flowers 2 or 3 under each scale of the 

 catkin, each consisting of a naked ovary which, in fruit, becomes a winged 

 nutlet or samara. 



A medium-sized tree with brownish-red, cherry-like bark. Leaves 

 ovate or oblong-ovate, cordate, acuminate, sharply serrate, smooth and 

 shining above, glabrous beneath. Sterile catkins long and droojDing, ter- 

 minal and lateral, formed in summer, and expanding the following sj)ring. 

 Fertile catkins oblong-cylindrical in fruit, usually terminal on short lateral 

 branches of the season. Bark, of the younger branches especially, aro- 

 matic, having the odor and taste of gaultheria. When wounded the stem 

 yields a saccharine juice. 



Habitat. — In moist woods from New England to Illinois northward, and 

 along the Alleghanies southward. 



Parts Used. — The bark, leaves, and saccharine juice— not ofiicial. 



Constituents. — The bark and leaves, by distillation, yield a volatile oil 

 identical in composition with that obtained from gaultheria, and, it is said, 

 frequently sold for the latter. 



Preparations. — Commonly used in decoction. The oil evidently pos- 

 sesses all the virtues of the drug, and is therefore the most efiicient prepa- 

 ration. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The white birch of Europe {Betula alba 

 Linne) and the related American species, Betula alba, var. Po/jf^ZZ/bZia Spach, 

 and Betula lenta L., have been considered purifiers of the blood, and have 

 been employed as domestic remedies in rheumatism, gout, cutaneous aflfec- 

 tions, etc. Whatever virtues they possess are probably due to their vola- 



