BIRCH FAMILY 



Wood.- — Light brown, sapwood paler; light, soft, close-grained, 

 not strong, checks badly in drying, not durable in contact with the 

 ground, takes a fine polish. Used for spools, shoe pegs, wood pulp 

 and barrel hoops. Fuel value not high, but burns with bright flame. 

 Sp. gr., 0.5760; weight of cu. ft., 35.90 lbs. 



Winter i?«rf.r.^Slender, brown, one-fourth of an inch long. 

 Leaves. — Alternate, simple, triangular, two and a half to three 

 inches lon_g, one and one-half to two inches wide, truncate or slightly 

 wedge-shaped at base, doubly serrate, with spreading glandular 

 teeth, acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud bright yellow 

 green, glutinous. When full grown are dark shining green above, 

 paler shining green beneath ; midribs yellow, raised, I'ounded, often 

 marked with minute black glands, primary veins conspicuous. In 

 autumn they turn a pale yellow. Petioles long, slender, slightly 

 twisted, often reddish. Stipules ovate, pale green, tinged with red, 

 caducous. 



Flowers. — April, before the leaves. Staminate flowers borne on 

 terminal catkins which are solitary or in pairs ; 

 when mature are from three to four inches long. 

 These form in the late summer, and during the 

 winter they vary from one and one-quarter to one 

 and one-half inches long, bright pale green, and 

 very rigid. Scales ovate, acute, apiculate. Pis- 

 tillate araents slender, one-half inch long ; scales 

 ovate, acute pale green, glandular ; peduncles 

 furnished with conspicuous bractlets. 



Fruit. — Strobiles cylindrical, an inch long, 



obtuse at base and apex ; peduncles slender, 



drooping ; scales pubescent, wedge-shaped at 



base, three-Iobed, lateral lobes larger than the 



White Birch, Betula middle, spreading. Nut oval, acute or rounded 



populifolia. Strobiles at base, winged ; the wings rather broader than 



pendulous, i' long. the seed. 



Most beautiful 

 Of forest trees — The Lady of the woods. 



— COLERIDSE. 



The silvery stems 

 Of delicate birch trees. 



—Keats. 



Sometimes trees ascend vertically and having arrived at a certain height, in 

 an air perfectly unobstructed, fork off in various tiers, and send out their 

 branches horizontally like an apple tree ; or incline them towards the earth like 

 a fir ; or hollow them in the form of a cup, like the sassafras ; or round them 

 into the shape of a mushroom like the pine ; or straighten them into a pyramid 

 like the poplar ; or roll them as wool upon the distaff like the cypress ; or suffer 

 them to float at the discretion of the winds like the birch. 



—St. Pierre. 

 298 



