BIRCH FAMILY 



with the ripening nut, they show a rare scheme of 

 color which varies from yellows through browns to 

 red; and the dense hairs gdve a velvety look. The 

 nuts are all terminal, but out of a cluster that seem to 

 start even, two or three outstrip the rest and grow, — 

 the others abort, leaving their little bottle necks to 

 show where they began life. 



LOW BIRCH. BOG BIRCH 



Betula pumila. Betula humilis. 



Betula, an ancient name of uncertain derivation. 



A bog shrub two to fifteen feet high, with twigs densely pubes- 

 cent at first, afterward glabrous. Ranges from Newfoundland to 

 the Northwest Territories, southward to New Jersey, Ohio and 

 Minnesota. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, veins very prom- 

 inent beneath, one-half to an inch and a half long, obovate, 

 broadly oval or orbicular, rounded or wedge-shaped at base, 

 coarsely and irregularly dentate, obtuse or slightly acute at apex. 

 They come out of the bud pale green, densely pubescent, brown- 

 ish ; when full grown are thick, dull green, pubescent or glabrous 

 above, pale green, brownish tomentose or glabrous and very retic- 

 ulately-veined beneath. Autumnal tint clear, bright yellow. 

 Petioles short. Stipules fugacious. 



Flowers. — May. June, with the leaves. Monoecious ; the 

 flowers of both kinds borne in catkins. Staminate flower consists 

 of a four-toothed perianth, subtended by two bractlets and bear- 

 ing two stamens ; filaments short, deeply two-cleft ; each fork 

 bearing an anther-sac. Pistillate flowers two or three in the axil 

 of each bract, the bracts deciduous with the fruits : perianth 

 none: ovary sessile, two-celled : styles two. mostly persistent. 



Fruit. — Strobile, oblong-cylindric. about three-fourths of an 

 inch long, erect, peduncled. Fruiting bract puberulent or cili- 

 ate. three-lobed. lateral lobes shorter than the middle one. Nut 

 small, oblong, rather broader than its wings. 



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