BETULACEAE 
Yellow Birch. Gray Birch 
Betula lutea Michx. f. 
HABIT.—A tree 60-80 feet high and 2-4 feet in trunk diam- 
eter; numerous slender, pendulous branches form a broad, open, 
rounded crown. 
LEAVES.—Alternate, solitary or in pairs, simple, 3-5 inches 
long and one-half as broad; ovate to oblong-ovate; sharply doubly 
serrate; dull dark green above, yellow-green beneath; petioles 
short, slender, grooved, hairy; slightly aromatic. 
FLOWERS.—April, before the leaves; monoecious; the 
staminate catkins 3-4 inches long, slender, pendent, purplish 
yellow; the pistillate catkins sessile or nearly so, erect, almost 
1 inch long, greenish. 
FRUIT.—Ripens in autumn; sessile or short-stalked, erect, 
glabrous strobiles, about 1 inch long and thalf as thick; scales 
downy on the back arid edges; nut about as broad as the wing. 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud absent; lateral buds about 
14 inch long, conical, acute, chestnut-brown, more or less appres- 
sed; bud-scales more or less ptbescent. 
BARK.—Twigs, branches and young stems smooth, very 
lustrous, silvery gray or light orange; becoming silvery yellow- 
gray as the trunk expands and breaking into strips more or less 
curled at the edges; old trunks becoming gray or blackish, dull, 
deeply and irregularly fissured into large, thin plates; somewhat 
aromatic, slightly bitter. 
WOOD.—Heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, light 
brown tinged with red, with thin, whitish sapwood. 
DISTRIBUTION.—Throughout the state, but more abund- 
ant and of larger size northward. 
HABITAT.—Prefers rich, moist uplands, but grows in wet 
or dry situations. 
NOTES.—One of the largest deciduous-leaved trees of 
Michigan. Easily transplanted, but not desirable as a street tree. 
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