974 "The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



and as the wood takes a high polish, it is highly valued in Siberia for work-boxes, 

 cigarette cases, and other small fancy articles. 



In northern Sweden and Russia the wood is sometimes found full of undula- 

 tions, which make it very ornamental for furniture, and some bedroom furniture 

 made by the Nordiska Kompaniet (Lundberg and Laja) of Stockholm, was almost 

 equal in beauty to satinwood. I have also seen it used as veneer with the best 

 effect for decorating cabins in steamers built in Denmark and Sweden. This is 

 known in Sweden as " Flammig bjork." Another curious form of birch wood is 

 that known in Finland and Sweden as " Masur." I was informed by Mr. Jacobssen, 

 Swedish Vice-Consul at Abo, that this variety in Finland is only found in 

 certain places, Karku, Tyrois, and Kalvola. A number of logs which I saw in 

 the works of the Finska Colorit Aktiebolag at Abo were covered on the outside with 

 small pitted depressions, somewhat similar to those which produce bird's-eye maple, 

 and when cut into veneer, are dyed of various colours, of which French grey seemed 

 to me the most effective ; and made up into furniture which commands a high price. 



At St. Petersburg this form of birchwood is known as " Karelsky," being 

 supposed to come from the Karelian peninsula ; and is largely used both in the 

 solid and as veneer for furniture making. Though not so elegant as the waved 

 form, or as the bird's-eye maple which it somewhat resembles, it is very quaint and 

 striking in appearance, and can be imported at very reasonable prices. 



The bark,^ when taken off in sheets, is used in Scandinavia for covering the 

 roofs of houses, and remains for many years undecayed between the inner boarding 

 and the outer sod of turf. A strong smelling oil, obtained by destructive distillation 

 from birch wood, is, when mixed with alcohol and rubbed on the skin, the best 

 protection I know of against the swarms of midges and mosquitoes which make 

 life almost unbearable in the short summer of the far north. This oil is used as 

 a preservative, and gives the fragrant odour to Russia leather. Birch bark has no 

 equal for lighting fires, and in the dripping forests of the north I have often had 

 good reason to value it when nothing else would start a fire. (H, J, E.) 



BETULA DAVURICA 



Betula davurica, Pallas, Fl. Ross, i. 60, t. 39 (1784); Winkler, Betulacem, 86 (1904). 



Betula Maximowiczii, Ruprecht, in Bull. Phys. Math. Acad. FStersb. xv. 139 (1856) (not Kegel). 



Betula Maackii, Ruprecht, in Bull. Phys. Math. Acad. Pitersb. xvi. 380 (1857). 



A tree, attaining 60 or 70 feet in height. Bark purplish brown, separating in 

 small, papery scales, which remain attached, curled and ragged, to the trunk, giving 

 the tree a peculiar appearance. Young branchlets glandular, covered with a minute 

 erect pubescence, interspersed with a few long hairs. Leaves, about 3 inches long 

 and i^ to 2 inches wide, narrowly ovate or ovate-rhombic, cuneate at the base, 



1 Pyrobetulin, obtained by sublimation from the outer bark of birch, is used for depositing films on glass, about to be 

 engraved, and for covering lint with an antiseptic layer. Cf. Wheeler, in Pharm. Journ. ix. 494 (1899). 



