HE CHERRY BIRCH {lieiula leni.i) 



The brown bark lias a silky outsiJc layer markcil with horizontal slits, just as cherry trees ha\e. On old trunks this smooth 

 layer is replaced by rough, broken plates. The wood is like black cherry. The twigs have a pleasant, aromatic taste, quite 

 unlike the rank, hitter taste of cherry bark. The leaves come out in pairs from side buds in late April. The staminate catkins 

 •re in evidence in winter, sealed up tight at the ends of twigs. In early April they shake out their golden pollen on every breeze, 

 and the erect green catkins of pistillate flowers show themselves close at hand. In early summer the oval erect cones shed 

 their seeds. One figure shows the 3-lobed bracts still hanging by threads from the central cone stem 



