BIRCH FAMILY 



YELLOW BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH 



Bdtula liitea. 



Usually thirty to forty feet in height, occasionally one hundred ; 

 reaches its largest size in Canada, northern New England and New 

 York. Ranges as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina. Pre- 

 fers rich moist uplands. Forms a broad round-topped head with 

 pendulous branches. 



Bark. — Aromatic and slightly bitter. On old trunks, silvery yel- 

 low gray, divided by irregular fissures into large thin plates ; on 

 young trunks silvery gray or dull yellow or shining golden, either 

 close and firm or somewhat divided, the edges of the irregular fis- 

 sures breaking into thin layers, more or less rolled at border. The 

 branchlets at first are green, afterward lustrous brown, finally dull 

 brown. 



Wood. — Light brown tinged with red ; heavy, strong, hard, close- 

 grained with satiny surface, susceptible of a fine polish. Used in 

 the manufacture of furniture, hubs of wheels, small boxes, butter 

 moulds and for fuel. Sp. gr., 0.6553 ; weight of cu. ft., 40.84 lbs. 



Winter Buds. — Acute, light chestnut brown, a quarter of an inch 

 long. 



Leaves. — Alternate, often in pairs, three to four inches long, an 

 inch to two inches wide, ovate or oblong-ovate, wedge-shaped or 

 slightly heart-shaped at the slightly oblique base, doubly serrate, 

 acute or acuminate, slightly aromatic. They come out of the bud 

 plicate, bronze green or red, hairy ; when full grown are dull dark 

 green above, yellow green below ; midrib stout, pri- 

 mary veins conspicuous, impressed above, hairy be- 

 low. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. Pet- 

 ioles short, slender, grooved, hairy ; stipules ovate, 

 pale pinkish green, caducous. 



Flowers. — April, before the leaves ; monoecious. 

 Staminate catkins form in late summer, usually in 

 groups, three-fourths to one inch long. Scales pale 

 chestnut brown, ovate. When the flowers open the 

 catkins are three to three and one-half inches long ; 

 scales pale yellow green below the middle, dark 

 brown above. Pistillate catkins about two-thirds of 

 Yellow 'mrch Be ^" '"'^'^ '°"S ' Scales acute, pale green below, light 

 Ma lutea. Stro- ""ed, hairy above. 



biles erect, I'to Fruit. — Strobiles erect, sessile or short-stalked, 

 1 j^' long. oblong-ovoid, an inch to an inch and a half in length, 



three-quarters of an inch thick. Scales wedge- 

 shaped, broad or narrow, three-lobed, lobes variable. Nut oval or 

 obovate, one-eighth inch long ; wing rather narrower than the seed. 



310 



