844 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
cles. Scales of the strobiles having the side lobes roundish (Willd.) A 
deciduous tree. Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania. Height 70 ft. to 80 ft. 
Introd. 1767. Flowers greenish white ; May. Fruit brownish ; ripe in October. 
The young shoots and leaves, at their unfolding, are downy. Towards the 
end of summer, when fully expanded, the leaves are perfectly smooth, except 
the petiole, which remains covered with fine short hairs. The leaves are about 
33 in. long, and 24in. broad; oval, acuminate, and bordered with sharp 
irregular teeth. The epidermis is of a brilliant golden yellow ; and the leaves, 
the bark, and the young shoots, have all an agreeable taste and smell, similar 
to those of the pliant birch (B. lénta), though they lose it in drying. In its 
fructification, this species nearly resembles B. lénta. 
¥ 11. B.Le’nta L. The pliant Birch. 
Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 464. ; Pursh Fl. Amer Sept., 2. p. 621.; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 205. 
Synonymes. B. carpinifolia Ehrh, Beitr. 6. p. 99.; B. nigra Du Aoi Herb. 1. p.933 the plant is 
under both these names, and also under that of 2B. lénta, in Loddiges’s arboretum 3; black Birch, 
Cherry. Birch, Canada Birch, Sweet Birch, Mountain Mahogany, Amer. ; Bouleau Mérisier, J’r. ; 
Betula della Virginia, Ztail. 
Engravings. Wang. Beitr. t. 15. f. 34.; Michx. N. Amer. Syl., 2. 106. ; and our jig. 1541. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaves cordate-ovate, acutely serrated, acuminate ; petioles 
and nerves hairy beneath. Scales of the strobiles smooth, having the side 
lobes obtuse, equal, with prominent veins. ( Willd.) A deciduous tree. 
Canada to Georgia. Height 
60 ft. to 70 ft. Introd.1759. 
Flowers greenish white; 
May and June. Fruit 
brown ; ripe in November. 
According to Pursh, this : 
is an elegant and large tree, 6° 
the most interesting of its £ 
genus, on account of the 
excellence of its wood. Mi- 
chaux strongly recommends 
the tree for cultivation, on a 
large scale, in the north of 
France, in England, and in 
Germany ; and to the lovers 
of curious trees, “as emi- 
nently adapted. from the 
eauty of its foliage and the 
agreeable odour of its flow- 
ers, to figure in their parks é 
and gardens.” 1541. B. lénta, 
Species of Birch lately introduced.—In Royle’s Illustrations several species 
of birch are mentioned as occupying the loftiest stations in the mountains 
of Nepal, and other parts of the Himalayas: B. Bhojpittra Wall, B. nitida, 
B. cylindrostachya, B. resinifera Royle, and B. acuminata Wall. 
B. Bhojpittra Wall. The Indian Paper Birch. Leaves oblong-acute, 
with nearly simple serratures, somewhat heart-shaped at the base; their 
stalks, veins, and twigs hairy. Female catkins erect, cylindrical, oblong. 
Bracteas smooth, woody, two-parted, blunt, much longer than the fruit, which 
has narrow wings. A tree, foundon the Alps of Gurwal,in Kamaon, where 
its thin delicate bark furnishes the masses of flexible laminated matter, of 
which great quantities are brought down into the plains of India, for lining 
the tubes of hookahs; and which is used by the mountaineers, instead of 
paper, for writing upon, (Wall. Plant. As. Rar., volii. p. 7.) The bark of 
this species is of a pale cinnamon colour. Raised in the Hort. Soc. Gard. in 1840. 
B. acumindta Wall. Leaves ovate lanceolate, sharply serrated, taper- 
