288 TREES IN WINTER 



PAPER BIRCH 



Canoe or White Birch. 



Betula alba, var. papyrifera (Marsh.) Spach. 

 B. papyrifera Marsh, 



HABIT — A large tree, 50-75 ft. or occasionally more in height with 

 a trunk diameter of 1-3 ft.; developing when not crowded an open, 

 irregular, rounded head, with numerous branches and erect branchlets. 



BARK — Trunk and older branches chalky-white, peeling or easily 

 separated into thin paper-like layers of a delicate pinkish to yellowish 

 tinge where not exposed to the sun, with conspicuous horizontally 

 elongated, raised lenticels; inner bark reddish-orange yellow. With age 

 the outer bark rolls back in ragged sheets and the trunk becomes more 

 or less black-streaked and blotched and the base rough and fissured 

 into large irregular thick scales. The bark of the Paper Birch is much 

 sought after by visitors in the woods for use as letter paper, small 

 picture frames and other souvenir articles. In consequence trees of 

 this species in the neighborhood of picnic grounds generally are 

 despoiled of their bark and even its close-barked relative, the Gray 

 Birch, is not immune from attacks of those who are ignorant of the 

 difference in bark characters between the two species. 



TAVIGS — Stouter than those of the Gray Birch; smooth or somewhat 

 hairy, reddish-brown. LENTICELS — pale, orange colored dots becoming 

 horizontally elongated. LEAF-SCARS — 2-ranked, resembling those of 

 the Gray Birch. 



BUDS — About 5-10 mm. long, ovate, pointed, divergent. BUD-SCALES 

 — downy on margins. 



FRUIT — A short-stalked, cylindrical, smooth catkin 2-5 cm. long; 

 scales 4-6 mm. long, with thick lateral lobes, hairy-margined; seed- 

 like nutlet, narrower than the wings; staminate catkins in 2's or usually 

 in 3's. 



COMPARISONS — The Paper Birch, as known to woodsmen, is distin- 

 guished by its chalky-white bark peeling into thin papery layers. A 

 number of botanically more or less distinct separate varieties and 

 species have been recognized but Betula alba, var. papyrifera is the most 

 common. The peeling of its bark distinguishes it from the Gray Birch. 

 The exposed outer bark is more distinctly white and the dark triangular 

 patches noticeable at the insertion of branches in the Gray Birch are 

 often absent, especially on older trunks, or less distinct. The bark 

 does not typically form the ragged fringe characteristic of the Yellow 

 Birch and while it may not show the characteristic chalky-white where 

 it has peeled, the color is not a dingy yellow but some delicate shade, 

 generally of cinnamon. 



DISTRIBUTION — Deep, rich woods, river banks, mountain slopes. 

 Canada, Atlantic to Pacific, northward to Labrador and Alaska to the 

 limit of deciduous trees; south to Pennsylvania and Illinois; west to the 

 Rocky mountains and Washington on the Pacific coast. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — abundant; New Hampshire — in all sec- 

 tio^^s, most common on highlands up to the alpine area of the White 

 Mountains, above the range of the Yellow Birch; Vermont — common; 

 Massachusetts — common in the western and central sections, rare 

 towards the coast; Connecticut — rare near the coast, Lyme, Huntington, 

 becoming occasional northward and frequent in Litchfield county; 

 Rhode Island — not reported. 



WOOD — Light, strong, hard, tough, very close-grained, light brown, 

 tinged with red, with thick nearly white sapwood; largely used for 

 spools, shoe-lasts, pegs and in turnery, the manufacture of wood pulp 

 and for fuel. The tough resinous durable bark impervious to water is 

 used by all the northern Indians in their canoes, and for baskets, 

 bags, drinking cups and other small articles, and often to cover their 

 wigwams in winter. 



