414 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



BLACK BIRCH 



Cherry Birch; Sweet Birch. 



Betula lenta L. 



HABIT A medium to large sized tree 50-75 ft. high, with a trunk 

 diameter of 1-4 ft.; branches long and slender, in young specimens 

 upper branches ascending at sharp angle, lower branches horizontal 

 or drooping with delicate spray forming a narrow head; in older 

 trees becoming wide spreading, ovate in outline. 



BARK On young trunks and branches smooth, close, not peeling, 

 dark reddish-brown,- shining, with horizontally elongated pale lenticels 

 resembling the bark of the cultivated Cherry whence the common 

 name; in older trunks tardily broken into large thick irregular plates; 

 inner bark with distinct wintergreen taste. 



TWIGS Slender, light reddish-brown, smooth, shining, with strong 

 wintergreen flavor when chewed; short spur-like lateral shoots abund- 

 ant,, bearing two leaves each season, much roughened by leaf-scars of 

 numerous past seasons. LENTICELS pale, raised dots, becoming 

 horizontally elongated with age. PITH elliptical. 



LEAP-SCARS Alternate, 2-ranked, small, semi-oval to depressed 

 inversely triangular to crescent-shaped, projecting. STIPULE-SCARS 

 present, narrow, inconspicuous. BUNDLE-SCARS generally 3 and 

 inconspicuous. 



BUDS Medium, 5-10 mm. long, conical, sharp-pointed, reddish-brown, 

 divergent; terminal bud absent on long shoots; buds on short spurs 

 terminal. BUD-SCALES downy on margins, overlapping with more than 

 2 ranks; in buds of long shoots 3 scales visible, two lateral of 

 equal size reaching half way up and a third with edges rolled around 

 the bud; scales of terminal buds on short spurs more numerous, about 

 7 visible. 



FRUIT An erect, stalkless, oval-oblong catkin, 2-4 cm. long, with 

 smooth scales about 4-6 mm. long, equally 3-lobed above the middle 

 and with seed-like winged nutlets about as broad as their wings. 



COMPARISONS The Black Birch differs from other Birches in its 

 close dark cherry-like bark. It is most closely related to the Yellow 

 Birch in the character of its fruit and the aromatic flavor of the young 

 bark. Besides the bark differences, however, the twigs of the Black 

 Birch have a more decided wintergreen flavor. It has in general a 

 somewhat less spreading habit of growth, the buds are divergent and 

 the catkins are downy. 



DISTRIBUTION Moist grounds; rich woods, old pastures, fertile 

 hill slopes, banks of rivers. Maine; south to Delaware, along the moun- 

 tains to Florida; west to Minnesota and Kansas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine frequent; New Hampshire in the high- 

 lands of the southern section, and along the Connecticut river valley 

 to a short distance north of Windsor; Vermont frequent in the 

 western part 'of the state, and in the southern Connecticut valley; 

 Massachusetts and Rhode Island frequent throughout, especially in 

 the highlands, less often near the coast. 



IN CONNECTICUT Widely distributed, especially in the Connecticut 

 river valley, frequent or common. 



WOOD Heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, dark brown 

 tinged with red, with thin light brown or yellow sapwood of 70-80 

 layers of annual growth; largely used in the manufacture of furniture 

 and for fuel, and occasionally in ship and boat building. Oil of winter- 

 green, used medicinally and as a flavor, is distilled from the wood, and 

 beer is abtained by fermenting the sugary sap. 



