BIRCH FAMILY 



toothed scale, two stamens, and subtended by two bractlets ; 

 filaments short, deeply two-cleft, each fork bearing an anther- 

 sac. Pistillate aments cylindric. erect, peduncled ; flowers two 

 or three in the axil of each bract : the bracts three-lobed. lateral 

 lobes divergent, deciduous with the fruit : ovary sessile., two- 

 celled : styles two. 



Fruit. — Strobile, oblong-cylindric. a half to an inch long, 

 erect, peduncled. obtuse at base and apex. Fruiting bract gla- 

 brous, three-lobed. lateral lobes divergent, rather shorter than the 

 middle one. Nut tiny, oblong, usually narrower than its wings. 



A little inland on the North Cape, the dwarf birch makes its appearance ; 

 when sheltered attaining a length of about a foot with a stem of a quarter to 

 a third of an inch in diameter, and requiring a generation or two to reach 

 these dimensions. It did not raise its top toward the sun, but crouched to 

 the earth, clinging to it like a creeping plant, to escape being torn away by 

 the force of the winds. 



— •' Land of the Midnight Sun." Paul B. Dd Chaillu. 



SPECKLED ALDER. HOARY ALDER 



Ah: us incana. 



Alnus, an ancient Latin name derived from the Celtic ; in 

 allusion to the growth of these plants along streams. 



The common northern brook-side alder, abundant at the edge 

 of streams and in swamps : reaches a height of eight to ten feet. 



Ranges from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania and west to Nebraska. 



Stems. — Recent shoots and fruit stalks brown and downy, 

 dotted with orange lenticels. which gradually become ashen or 

 -ravish brown. Those stems that are deeply shaded are often 

 deep red or dark green. All are speckled with conspicuous 

 light gray lenticels. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, three to five inches long, two to 

 four inches wide, broad-oval, rounded or cordate at base, doubly 

 or irregularly serrate, acute at apex. They come out of the bud 

 very downy : when full grown are bright dark green above, 

 pale, sometimes pubescent and often whitish, below ; midvein 

 and primary veins depressed above, ridged below. In autumn 

 they turn a bright, clear yellow. Petiole short, stout. 



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