BIRCH FAMILY 



seven hundred years before Christ, were of birch bark ; and 

 the sibylline leaves purchased by Tarquin are by some be- 

 lieved to have been of the same material. 



The inner bark contains starch so abundantly that it is a 

 valuable resource to the people of the extreme north who 

 bruise and mix it with their food. 



RED BIRCH. RIVER BIRCH 



Be'tula nigra. 



Eighty to ninety feet in height, trunk often dividing into two or 

 three slightly diverging limbs and forming a round-topped pictu- 

 resque head. Branches slender and pendulous. Loves the banks of 

 streams and ponds and swamps, where the water overflows. Ranges 

 from Massachusetts to Florida and reaches its largest size in the 

 low lands of the south. 



Bark.—V>2ix\i red brown, deeply furrowed, scaly. On branches 

 and young stems bright red or reddish brown, or silver white, 

 marked with horizontal lenticels. Separates into thin papery plates, 

 which curl back and show the pinkish inner layer. Branchlets at 

 first coated with tomentum, later become dark red and shining 

 and marked with pale lenticels ; finally they become dull red brown 

 and after a time the bark begins to separate into thin flakes. 



Wood. — Light brown, sapwood pale ; light, strong, close-grained, 

 used in manufacture of furniture and wooden ware. Sp. gr., 0.5762; 

 weight of cu. ft., 35.91 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Bright chestnut brown, shining, ovate, acute, one- 

 fourth inch long, inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins and 

 become three-fourths of an inch long, strap-shaped, pale brown tinged 

 with red, hairy. 



Leaves. — Alternate, one and one-half to three inches long, one to 

 two inches broad, broadly ovate, wedge-shaped at base, doubly 

 serrate, often almost lobed. acute. They come out of the bud, 

 pale yellow green, hairy and tomentose ; when full grown are thin, 

 tough, deep shining green above, pale yellow green ; midrib stout, 

 conspicuous, hairy beneath. In autumn they turn a pale dull yellow. 

 Petioles short, slender, flattened, tomentose. Stipules ovate, pale 

 green, caducous. 



Flowers. — March, April, before the leaves. Staminate catkins 

 „ clustered in threes, form in late summer, during winter are three- 

 fourths of an inch long, rigid. Scales dull chestnut brown. When 

 flowers open the catkins are two to three inches long, scales light 

 yellow and bright chestnut brown. Pistillate catkins are about one- 



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