68 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England, 

 growing in every kind of soil, finest specimens in deep, rich 

 loam. Were this tree not so common, its graceful habit and 

 attractive bark would be more appreciated for landscape gar- 

 dening ; only occasionally grown by nurserymen, best secured 

 through collectors ; young collected plants, if property selected, 

 will nearly all live. 



PLATE XXXIII. BETULA POPULIFOLIA. 



1. Branch with sterile and fertile catkins. 



2. Sterile flower, back view. 



3. Fertile flower. 



4. Scale of fertile flower. 



5. Fruiting branch. 



6. Fruit. 



Betula papyrifera, Marsh. 

 CANOE BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH. PAPER BIRCH. 



Habitat and Range. Deep, rich woods, river banks, moun- 

 tain slopes. 



Canada, Atlantic to Pacific, northward to Labrador and Alaska, 

 to the limit of deciduous trees. 



Maine, abundant; New Hampshire, in all sections, 

 most common on highlands up to the alpine area of the White 

 mountains, above the range of the yellow birch ; Vermont, 

 common ; Massachusetts, common in the western and cen- 

 tral sections, rare towards the coast; Ehode Island, not 

 reported ; Connecticut, occasional in the southern sections, 

 frequent northward. 



South to Pennsylvania and Illinois; west to the Rocky mountains 

 and Washington on the Pacific coast. 



Yar. minor, Tuckerman, is a dwarf form found upon the 

 higher mountain summits of northern New England. 



Habit. A large tree, 50-75 feet high, with a diameter of 

 1-3 feet ; occasionally of greater dimensions. The trunk 

 develops a broad-spreading, open head, composed of a few 

 large limbs ascending at an acute angle, with nearly horizontal 



