390 



LXXXiy. BETULACE^. 



[A 'In us. 



I. B. 



diba L. (co7nmou B.) ; leaves ovate-deltoid n^„. 

 doubly serrate, scales of the fertile catkins 3-lobed, fruit hrS 

 obovate ^vlth a broad margin. E. B. t. 2198. _«. lateral S^ 

 of scales decurved. B. verrucosa Fries. — jS. lateral lobeVn 

 cendmg. B. glutinosa Fries. ^^' 



Woods, especially in heathy soils and in mountainous countrip 

 h' 4, 5. — There is a var. of this tree {B. pendida Roth, Lindl ^ 

 p. 229.), with remarkably drooping branches, which are more vem 

 cose than in the common appearance : it is not unfrequent in ill 

 Highlands of Scotland, and generally known by the name of th 

 drooping or weeping birch. There is also another with the vouT 

 shoots and peduncles downy, which seems to be B. puhescens Ehrlf 

 Ihe lateral lobes of the catkin-scales vary, being either erect o 

 spreading, or even decurved, particularly in the drooping Birch • an<! 

 although we have admitted the two extremes to mark our varietiG<i 

 we cannot admit such to be of specific importance. The wood is 

 tough and white, and employed for various purposes. Much is burrt 

 into charcoal. Brooms are made of it, and well-known instrument, 

 of castigation. Of the bark, in some countries, hats and drinking-cun, 

 are formed ; and, what is more important, the oil obtained from the 

 degot, or « white rind," is used in tanning the well-known Russia 

 leather. It is, moreover, employed by the people of the same countrv 

 as a vermifuge, and a balsam in the cure of wounds. 



■ 2. B. ndrrn L. {dwarf B.) ; leaves orbicular obtusely crenato 

 glabrous, catkin scales trifid, fruit orbicular with a narrow 

 margin. E. B. t. 2326. 



In several parts of the Highlands of Scotland. Rare in the Low- 

 lands. Pj . 5. — A small shrubby plant not exceeding l_o feet in 

 height. Leaves on short footstalks. Fertile catkins at the ex"tremitv 

 of the branches, small; their scales cleft to the middle or sometimes 

 to near the base, variable in the same specimen. _ Even this humble 

 slirub_ the poor _L;ip!ander turns to use. ' It is almost all he meets 

 with in certam situations, that can be converted into fuel for eookino- 

 food and dr.ving away the gnats; and the dry foliage covered with 

 rein-deer's skin, serves him for a bed. 



2. A'l^Nus Toum. Alder. 



./. Scale of the catkin S-loheAl^v^hhSJlowers. Peri 



Scale of the catkin sub- 



antk 4-partite. Stam, 4. 



at its base. 



Per tile fl. 



^Jlmvers. Perianth 0. Ovary , ....ute «caie« 



^r«2# without_ a jnembranaceous margin, com- 



and Ian, a river, but more probably from the Hebrew^4efo« a 

 vigorous tree, and usually applied to the Oak. 



. l.A.^to-Jid^aGaertn. {co^nmon A.); leaves roumlish-eunei- 

 fprm obtuse lobed at the margin and serrate som whatTu- 



