BETULACEAE 



Yellow Birch. Gray Birch 



Betula lutea, Michx. f. 



HABIT. A tree 60-80 feet high and 2-4 feet in trunk diam- 

 eter; numerous slender, pendulous branches form a broad, open, 

 rounded crown. 



LEAVES. Alternate, solitary or in pairs, simple, 3-5 inches 

 long and one-half as broad; ovate to oblong-ovate; sharply doubly 

 serrate; dull dark green above, yellow-green beneath; petioles 

 short, slender, grooved, hairy; slightly aromatic. 



FLOWERS. April, before the leaves; monoecious; the 

 staminate catkins 3-4 inches long, slender, pendent, purplish 

 yellow; the pistillate catkins sessile or nearly so, erect, almost 

 i inch long, greenish. 



FRUIT. Ripens in autumn; sessile or short-stalked, erect, 

 glabrous strobiles, about i inch long and ihalf as thick; scales 

 downy on the back and edges; nut about as broad as the wing. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds about 

 Y\ inch long, conical, acute, chestnut-brown, more or less appres- 

 sed; bud-scales more or less pubescent. 



BARK. Twigs, branches and young stems smooth, very 

 lustrous, silvery gray or light orange; becoming silvery yellow- 

 gray as the trunk expands and breaking into strips more or less 

 curled at the edges; old trunks becoming gray or blackish, dull, 

 deeply and irregularly fissured into large, thin plates ; somewhat 

 aromatic, slightly bitter. 



WOOD. Heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, light 

 brown tinged with red, with thin, whitish sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Throughout the state, but more abund- 

 ant and of larger size northward. 



HABITAT. Prefers rich, moist uplands, but "grows in wet 

 or dry situations. 



NOTES. One of the largest deciduous-leaved trees of 

 Michigan. Easily transplanted, but not desirable ,as a street tree. 



