Handbook of Trees of the .Nuktheejnt States axd Cain^ada. 119 



This is the smallest of the tree Birches ot 

 eastern Xorth America, cummuiily not more 

 than 20 or 30 ft., or I'Xci'iilionally 40 ft., in 

 height. Avith trunk sometimes IS in. in di- 

 ameter. The bark of yoiint;er trees is dull 

 creamy white, usually with dark triangular 

 marks at the inscrtiim of liranchcs. and peeling 

 off tardily in strips around the trunk. On 

 older trunks it is darker and rough with 

 transverse fissures. It develops a narrow and 

 more or less irregular top of many small 

 branches commonly clothing the stem to the 

 ground. With its long stemmed small leaves 

 in constant agitation by the wind, like those 

 of the Quaking Asp. and white bark, it is a 

 conspicuous and interesting object. It com- 

 monly grows in dry sandy and often quite 

 barren soil, springing up in abundance after 

 forest fires and affording by its shade a shelter 

 for the germinating of the more tender seeds 

 of more useful trees. 



Its wood, a cubic foot of which, when abso- 

 lutely dry, weighs 35.90 lbs., is used in the 

 manufacture of small wooden-ware, as spools, 

 clothes-pins, shoe-pegs, hoops for casks, etc.. 

 and is excellent for fuel and charcoal. i 



Leaves triao2:nlar-ovoid. from 'l-'.\'^/-2 in. Iodl'. 

 with very slender points, truncate, obtuse nr 

 sli2:htly cordate and entire at base, doubly serrate 

 with spreadintr glandular teeth, dark shinin^^ 

 green and glandular-roughened atiove and sllghtl.\' 

 paler and smooth beneath : petioles long and 

 slender; branchlets resin-glandular. Floiccrs im- 

 folding with the leaves : staminate aments solitary 

 or in pairs, about 1 in. or less in length and slender 

 in winter, becoming from 2-3t{! in. long, with 

 apiculate scales ; pistillate aments slender, about 

 ^/2 in. long, on glandular pedicels of about tbr' 

 same length with pale green scales. Fruit: stro- 

 biles cylindrical, about % in. long and '4 in. 

 thick, erect or spreading with slender peduncle : 

 scales with lateral lohes recurved, the middle one 

 narrow ; nutlet narrower than its wings. - 



W.. Ill, 



