CORYLACEAE 105 



Walt, and C. rostrafa Ait., occur in Alabama, and they are per- 

 fectly distinct, but hard to tell apart without the fruit, which can 

 be seen only in late summer and fall, and is rare with us, so that I 

 have never seen any in this state. The shrubs are sometimes 

 planted for borders and hedges, and their nuts are quite a delicacy. 

 The hazel-nuts grow in dry or moderately rich woods, not 

 often burned over, and are apparently confined to the hill country. 

 In the followi g statement of local distribution the two species are 

 combined, on account of the difficulty of distinguishing them; but 

 C. rostrata is probably the commoner of the two. 



lA. Dry woods northwest of Florence. (C. AmericanaTJ. 



2A. Near Albertville and Cullman (C. Americana? ), and common on 

 Lookout Mountain near Mentone. (C rostrata?) . Roadsides in Blount 

 County northeast of Bangor. 



2B. Tuscaloosa County (E. A. Smith). (C. rostrata?). 



3. Near Pratt's Ferrj-, Bibb County. 



5. Cleburne (E. A. Smith, C. Americana), Clay, Randolph (Mohr) 

 and Tallapoosa Counties. (C. rostrata?). 



BETULACEAE. Birch Family. 



Two genera and about 100 species, trees and shrubs, mostly 

 in the north temperate zone. 



BETULA, Linnaeus. The Birches. 

 Betula nigra, L. (Common, red, or river) Birch. 



A medium-sized tree, with trtmk seldom more than two feet 

 in diameter, usually leaning toward the water. Bark peeling off in 

 shaggy flakes with horizontal grain, but not in large enough pieces 

 to make canoes and fancy articles out of like the northern paper 

 birch. The flower tassels appear before the leaves in spring, and 

 the seeds ripen in a few weeks, as in the case of the willows and 

 cottonwoods. 



This species is sometimes cultivated in parks and lawns. Very 

 little of the wood is cut in Alabama, but it is used in some places 

 for furniture, crates, ox-yokes, pump-handles and hoops, and it 

 makes good fuel, like most other hardwoods. 



References : Maxwell. 



Grows along rivers and creeks, like the willow, but it is not 

 usually as abundant as that, or found on such small streams. 

 Common throughout the state outside of the principal long-leaf 

 pine regions. Rare or absent in regions 4 and (iB, in 12 known 



