420 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



GRAY BIRCH 

 Old-field, White, Poverty, Small White or Poplar Birch. 



Betula populifolia Marsh. 



HABIT A small short-lived tree, 20-35 ft. in height with a trunk 

 diameter of generally less than 1 ft., commonly growing in clumps; 

 trunk slender, generally inclined to one side, continuous into top of tree, 

 with a fringe from top to bottom of short slender branches which grow 

 upward for a short distance but soon bend downward, with delicate 

 spray forming a narrow, open, pyramidal, pointed head. 



BARK Dull chalky-white, close, not peeling, with distinct dark 

 triangular patches below insertion of branches; inner bark reddish- 

 orange yellow; base of older trees nearly black and roughened by 

 irregular fissures; young trunks and branches bright reddish-brown. 



TWIGS Slender, bright reddish-brown or grayish, becoming with age 

 dull chalky-white, much roughened by warty resinous exudations. 

 LENTICELS pale, raised dots becoming with age conspicuous and hori- 

 zontally elongated. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, 2-ranked, small, with characters of the 

 genus. 



BUDS Small, about 5 mm. or generally less in length, smooth, some- 

 what resinous especially within, ovate, pointed, divergent. BUD- 

 SCALES finely downy on margins, 3-4 visible. 



FRUIT An erect or pendant, slender-stalked, narrow-cylindrical cat- 

 kin, 1.5 to 3.5 cm. long; scales minute 2-4 mm. long, finely downy with 

 broad lateral recurved lobes, and narrow middle lobe suggesting the 

 silhouette of a soaring bird; seed-like nutlet, minute, narrower than 

 the w r ings. Staminate catkin usually solitary. 



COMPARISONS The Gray Birch resembles the Paper Birch in having 

 a whitish outer bark. The bark however is a dingier gray and does 

 not peel into thin papery layers as does that of the Paper Birch. A 

 close inspection of its bark sometimes may show a certain breaking 

 away of the outer part in minute inconspicuous scales, but this is not 

 to be confused with a natural peeling. The bark, moreover, cannot be 

 separated into thin papery layers. The slender twigs are generally 

 conspicuously roughened with resinous dots while those of the twigs 

 of the Paper Birch are in general not so roughened except slightly 

 in certain varieties. The Gray Birch is less inclined to produce large 

 limbs and the numerous small branches are rather strongly pendant 

 after leaving the trunk. The species is short lived, never forming a 

 large tree, and is most frequently met with as a waste-land tree. 



DISTRIBUTION Dry, gravelly soils, occasional in swamps and fre- 

 quent along their borders, often springing up on burnt lands and usually 

 the first tree to take possession of abandoned or neglected fields; often 

 difficult to eradicate as it sprouts readily from the cut stump. Nova 

 Scotia to Lake Ontario; south, mostly in the coast region, to Delaware; 

 west to Lake Ontario. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine abundant; New Hampshire abundant 

 eastward, as far north as Conway and along the Connecticut to West- 

 moreland; Vermont common in the western and frequent in the south- 

 ern sections; Massachusetts and Rhode Island common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Common. 



WOOD Light, soft, not strong, close-grained, not durable, light 

 brown, with thick nearly white sapwood ; used in the manufacture of 

 spools, shoe pegs and wood pulp, for the hoops of barrels and largely 

 for fuel. 



