i84 THE TREE BOOK 



in the damp, semi-tropical regions of Florida, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. It is fond 

 of standing up to its knees in water, and it is of 

 great value along the marshy shores of lakes 

 and streams, where its roots help to give 

 strength and permanence to the shi,fting banks. 

 The tree is often called the red birch because 

 of its bark, which is a clear bright red in twigs 

 and branches, shading to a deeper color in the 

 sturdy, heavily furrowed trunk. If we chance 

 upon this tree in winter we find it a picturesque 

 "tatterdemalion" indeed, sporting no end of 

 little red bark streamers and fringes. The 

 branches droop gracefully, often almost touch- 

 ing the ground, as though they yearned to pad- 

 dle in the water. In autumn, the foliage is of 

 a bright clear yellow. Many a negro cabin and 

 humble southern home is swept with brooms 

 made from the twigs of this birch. 



The white or poplar-leaved birch is a restless, 

 short-lived gipsy, with delicate pointed leaves 

 almost as tremulous as those of the aspen. It is 

 fond of wandering over old abandoned fields, 

 and for this reason the New Englanders have 

 named it the oldfield birch. Because of its 

 dingy-white, chalky bark, it has also been called 

 the gray birch. We find that the younger 

 branches of the tree are clothed in rich reddish- 



