226 BETULA. 



The specific characters of this tree are thus stated in 

 the English Flora; leaves ovate, acute, somewhat deltoid, 

 unequally serrated, and nearly smooth. 



This light, elegant, and airy tree, one of the chief orna- 

 ments of our wild and mountainous scenery, is too well 

 known to require any particular or detailed technical 

 description. Throughout Britain and Ireland it is found 

 almost universally distributed in all hilly districts, as 



well as upon commons and wild tracts, where the soil 

 is poor or of a light and sandy quality. In Scotland 

 it grows at an altitude of three thousand five hundred 

 feet, being a higher zone than that attained by any other 

 of our indigenous trees ; but, as might be expected, at 

 this height it is only met with as a low tree or bush. 

 Its geographical distribution in other parts of the world 

 is also very extensive. Throughout the warm and tem- 

 perate parts of Europe it inhabits all the lofty mountain- 



