(Ill) 



The tree is some 25 feet high, having a trunk covered 

 with a smooth brownish bark, and young brownish hairy 

 twigs. The thin leaves are more or less oval in outline 

 from 3 y 2 to 5 inches long, and acute at both ends, or some- 

 times they may be bluntish at the tip. The flowering cat- 

 kins are of two kinds, sterile and fertile. The latter produce 

 the fruits which cling to the branches throughout the follow- 

 ing winter. The nut is winged. 



Our native alders are of little economic importance. 



American Beech Fagus grandifolia 



Its smooth, bluish-gray bark, silky-golden buds and its 

 lustrous green leaves, which turn bright yellow in autumn, 

 all make the beech one of the most distinctive and beautiful 

 trees of the American continent. 



It sometimes surpasses 100 feet in height and the trunk 

 often exhibits a tendency to be fluted. The leaf-blades are 

 oblong or oval-oblong, rough and with numerous veins, some 

 of which terminate in the coarse marginal teeth. The 

 flowers appear after the leaves unfold. Those which do not 

 produce fruit are arranged in catkins and the fertile flowers 

 are found usually two together on a short stalk. They have 

 practically no petals. The fruit is a small nut completely 

 surrounded by a prickly shell-like husk which splits and thus 

 releases the seed. 



The wood of the beech is much used for a variety of 

 purposes and particularly in the manufacture of creosote. 

 The kernel of the nut is sold in the Canadian market. The 

 tree is confined to the eastern half of the continent and is 

 common in the Hudson Valley. 



The copper beech, a dark-leaved form of the European 

 beech {Fagus sylvatica), is much planted for ornament, 

 but it is not known to have established itself as a wild ele- 

 ment in out native flora. 



