BETULACEAE 
Paper Birch. Canoe Birch. White Birch 
Betula alba papyrifera (Marsh.) Spach. [Betula papyrifera 
Marsh] 
HABIT.—A tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 
1-3 feet, forming in youth a compact, pyramidal crown of many 
slender branches, becoming in old age a long, branchless trunk 
with a broad, open crown, composed of a few large limbs ascend- 
ing at an acute angle, with almost horizontal branches and a 
slender, flexible spray. 
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 2-3 inches long, 134-2 inches 
broad; ovate; coarsely, more or less doubly serrate; thick and 
firm; glabrous, dark green above, lighter beneath, covered with 
minute black glands; petioles stout, yellow, glandular, glabrous or 
pubescent. 
FLOWERS.—April, before the leaves; monoecious; the stam- 
inate catkins clustered or in pairs, 3-4 inches long, slender, pend- 
ent, brownish; the pistillate catkins about 114 inches long, slender, 
erect or spreading, greenish; styles bright red. 
FRUIT.—Ripens in autumn; long-stalked, cylindrical, 
glabrous, drooping strobiles, about 114 inches long; scales hairy 
on the margin; nut narrower than its wing. : 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud absent; lateral buds %4 
inch long, narrow-ovoid, acute, flattish, slightly resinous, usually 
divergent. 
BARK.—Twigs dull red, becoming lustrous, orange-brown; 
bark of trunk and large limbs cream-white and lustrous on the 
outer surface, bright orange on the inner, separating freely into 
thin, papery layers, becoming furrowed and almost black near the 
ground. 
WOOD.—Light, hard, strong, tough, very close-grained, 
light brown tinged with red, with thick, whitish sapwood. 
‘DISTRIBUTION.—Lansing and northward. Common in 
central Michigan as a small tree. Of larger size in the Upper 
Peninsula. 
HABITAT.—Prefers rich, moist hillsides; borders of 
streams, lakes and swamps; but is also found in drier situations. 
NOTES.—A rapid grower in youth. The bark is used by the 
Indians and-woodsmen for canoes, wigwams, baskets, torches, etc. 
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