ii6 THE BIRCH FAMILY. 



No less than Carp inns Carolhiiana is this tree found bathing its roots in 

 many of the southern streams of the upland districts, while in the north and 

 west as well it appears to be equally content and at home. It is most 

 attractive when hung with its yellow tinted clusters of fruit which are as 

 decorative and pretty as those of a hop vine. For its beauty, in fact, it is 

 much planted. When in the open it develops a rounded and graceful crown- 



BEAKED HAZEL=NUT. 



Caryl us ro sir at a. 



Branches : light brown; glabrous or often pubescent; slender. Twigs: nearly 

 glabrous. Leaves: with slender pubescent petioles; ovate, or ovate-oblong; 

 pointed at the apex and slightly cordate, or blunt at the base; doubly serrate; 

 bright green above; glabrous ; paler underneath and nearly glabrous; thin. Sta?ji- 

 inale flowers : growing in catkins; the single flowers in the axils of each bract 

 with four stamens the filaments of which are divided so as to produce eight 

 anther sacs. Pistillate flnoers : clustered, arising from scaly buds, each in the 

 axil of a bract. Fruit : io\x\\(\. at the base of an involucre v\hich is prolonged into 

 a curved tube, cut at the summit and covered with bristly yellow hairs. Ant: 

 brown; ovoid, or ovate. Kernel : edible; sweet. 



Of the genus Corylus there are but two representatives in our range and 

 they are not only both well known but readily distinguishable the one from 

 the other. At the present time we regard them mostly for their fruit's sake 

 which is gathered and sold at the markets ; but in former days almost all 

 their parts were relied on for practical uses. Among a few of these that 

 have been recorded are that the wood was made into farming implements, 

 poles, spars, hoops, sticks and angling rods, while the plant's juices were 

 employed for staining. In brewing, the dried twigs were used as a substi- 

 tute for yeast when they were soaked in fermenting liquor. Coals for draw- 

 ing outlines were prepared from the wood which painters and engravers de- 

 sired above all others as the substance was one that worked freely and could 

 be taken out cleanly wdth Indian rubber. From the nut's meat, chocolate 

 as well as bread was made and also an oil procured little inferior to that of 

 almonds. Even at the present time the New England Indians make use of 

 the twigs in binding fish-dams. 



C Americana, hazel-nut or filbert, is distinctive from having longer leaves 

 than the preceding species and because its staminate aments are longer. It 

 is also a more pubescent shrub. But the most pronounced point of differ- 

 ence between the two is the dissimilarity in the shape of their involucres, 

 that of Corylus Americana being rounded at the base and extending into a 

 somewhat fluted, leafy border wdiich although somewhat hairy is quite with- 



