70 Betulaceae 



or moist ground and banks of streams, as 

 shrubs or small trees; or on the drier slopes, 

 and in alpine meadows and summits, fre- 

 quently as very diminutive shrubs with 

 stems less than an inch high, have been 

 omitted entirely, owing to the extreme 

 difficulty of distinguishing between them 

 in a work of this kind. 



BETULACE^ 

 Birch Family 



Trees or shrubs with alternate simple 

 leaves ; staminate and pistillate flowers borne 

 in separate catkins on the same plant; the 

 staminate usually long, slender, and droop- 

 ing; the pistillate short and erect; fruit 

 cone-like. 



V 



' ^ Betula Becoming a large forest tree; 



papyrifera Dar k chalky white, peeling in 

 Marsh. thin layers. Leaves ovate, 



Paper Birch, acute> or acum i nate , dentate and 



(X^ denticulate, smooth above, glan- 



