252 BETULACE.E. 



Paris used. — The leaves and tops — not official. 



CunstUuenls. — The most important constituents are volatile oil and tan- 

 nin. 



rrcparalions. — Commonly Ubed in decoction. 



Medical Properlies and Uses. — Sweet-forn is stimulant and astringent. 

 It is occasionally employed as a domestic remedy in diarrhcea, colic, etc. 



BETULACE>E. 



Giarnctcr of the Order. — Trees or shrubs with simple, alternate, stipu- 

 late leaves, often strongly fenther-veined. Flowers luonojcious, in scaly 

 catkins, 2 or 3 imder each bract, and without a perianth. Ovary 2-celled ; 

 stijrmas 2. Fruit a dry, 1-collcd, 1-seeded, often winged init. 



A small order inhabiting chiefly the northern temperate regions. 



^. BETULA.— Birch. 



Betula lenta Linno. — Sweet, Black, or Cherry Birch. 



Desc7'ipl' >n, — Staminate flowers 3, under each scale of the catkin, each 

 with 4 sli jrt stamens. Pistillate flov.ers 2 or 8 under each scale of the 

 catkin, each consisting of a uakeu ovary which, in fruit, becomes a winged 

 nutlet or samara. 



A mediu!n-sized tree with brownish-red, cherry-like bark. Leaves 

 ovate or oblong-ovate, cordate, acuminate, sharply serrate, smooth and 

 shining above, glabrous beneath. Sterile catkins long and drooping, ter- 

 minal and lateral, formed iii sunniier, and expanding the following si)ring. 

 Fertile ».:atkins oblong-cylindrical in fruit, usually terminal on short lateral 

 branches of the season. lUirk, of the younger branches especially, aro- 

 matic, having the odor and taste of gaultheria. When wounded the stem 

 yields a saccharine juice. 



Habitat. — In moist woods from New England to Illinois northward, and 

 along the Alleghanies southward. 



Farts Used. — The bark, leaves, and saccharine juice — not official. 



Constituents. — The bark and leaves, by distillation, yield a volatile oil 

 identical in composition with tliat obtained from gaultheria, and, it is said, 

 frequently sold for the latter. ^ 



Preparations. — Commonly usi^d in decoction. The oil evidently i)os- 

 sesses all the virtues of the drug, and is therefore the most efficieiit prepa- 

 ration. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The white birch of Europe [Betida alba 

 Linnc) and the related American species, Betida alba, var. Populi/uliaiipaGh., 

 and Betula lenta L., have been considered i^urifiers of the blood, and have 

 been eiff^jloyed as domestic remedies in rheumatism, gout, cutaneous affec- 

 tions, etc. Whatever virtues they possess are i)robably due to their vola- 



iMA^i^iHkUU 



