BIRCH FAMILY 
Others are var. pendula, weeping ; var. fastigiata, pyramidal ; 
var. pubescens, leaf covered with white down. All are 
beautiful. 
PAPER BIRCH. CANOE BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH 
Bétula papyrtfera. 
Widely distributed over a northern range. Sixty to seventy feet 
high. When young forming a compact pyramidal head, in old age 
becoming a branchless trunk, supporting a round-topped open head 
of pendulous branches. Prefers rich moist hillsides, borders of 
streams, lakes, and swamps. Sap flows freely in spring and by boil- 
ing can be made into syrup. 
Bark.—On old trees, near the ground, dark brown or nearly 
black, sharply and irregularly furrowed. At the base of young 
trees, brown tinged with red, separating irregularly into large plates. 
Higher on the trunks of old trees, on young stems and large limbs, 
creamy white, shining on the outer surface, bright orange on the 
inner, sata with horizontal lenticels and separating freely into 
thin papery layers. Branchlets slender, light green, then orange 
and finally through red and brown in the course of years they be- 
come white. Bark contains not only an astringent principle but a 
resinous balsamic oil. 
Wood.—Light brown tinged with red; light, hard, tough, close- 
grained and strong. Used for spools, shoe-lasts, wood pulp, fuel. 
Sp. gr., 0.5955; weight of cu. 
2 vA ft., 37.11 lbs. 
A Winter Buds. — Ovate, 
acute, dark brown, resinous, a 
quarter of an inch long. 
Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 
two to three inches long, one- 
half to two inches wide, ovate, 
heart-shaped or rounded or 
wedge-shaped at base, coarsely, 
doubly, or irregularly serrate 
with spreading teeth, abruptly 
acuminate; midrib slender, 
Paper Birch, Betula papyrifera. Strobiles pen- yellow, raised and rounded, 
dulous, 114% to 2/ long. and marked with minute black 
glands. They come out of the 
bud bright green, pubescent, resinous; when full grown are thick, 
firm, dull dark green above, pale yellow green beneath, covered with 
minute black glands. In autumn they turn clear pale yellow. 
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