BIRCH FAMILY 
YELLOW BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH 
Betula hitea. 
Usually thirty to forty feet in height, occasionally one hundred ; 
reaches its largest size in Canada, northern New England and New 
York. Ranges as far south as Tennessee and North Carolina. Pre- 
fers rich moist uplands. Forms a broad round-topped head with 
pendulous branches. 
Bark.—Aromatic and slightly bitter. On old trunks, silvery yel- 
low gray, divided by irregular fissures inte large thin plates; on 
young trunks silvery gray or dull yellow or shining golden, either 
close and firm or somewhat divided, the edges of the irregular fis- 
sures breaking into thin layers, more or less rolled at border. The 
branchiets at first are green, afterward lustrous brown, finally dull 
brown. 
Wood.—Light brown tinged with red ; heavy, strong, hard, close- 
grained with satiny surface, susceptible of a fine polish. Used in 
the manufacture of furniture, hubs of wheels, small boxes, butter 
moulds and for fuel. Sp. gr., 0.6553; weight of cu. ft., 40.84 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Acute, light chestnut brown, a quarter of an inch 
long. 
Leaves.—Alternate, often in pairs, three to four inches long, an 
inch to two inches wide, ovate or oblong-ovate, wedge-shaped or 
slightly heart-shaped at the slightly oblique base, doubly serrate, 
acute or acuminate, slightly aromatic. They come out of the bud 
plicate, bronze green or red, hairy; when full grown are dull dark 
green above, yellow green below ; midrib stout, pri- 
mary veins conspicuous, impressed above, hairy be- 
low. In autumn they turn a clear pale yellow. Pet- 
ioles short, slender, grooved, hairy ; stipules ovate, 
pale pinkish green, caducous. 
flowers.—April, before the leaves ; monccious. 
Staminate catkins form in late summer, usually in 
groups, three-fourths to one inch long. Scales pale 
chestnut brown, ovate. When the flowers open the 
catkins are three to three and one-half inches long ; 
scales pale yellow green below the middle, dark 
brown above. Pistillate catkins about two-thirds of 
Yellow Birch, Bee 20 inch long; scales acute, pale green below, light 
tula lutea. Stro- red, hairy above. 
biles erect, 1/ to fruit,—Strobiles erect, sessile or short-stalked, 
114’ long. oblong-ovoid, an inch to an inch and a half in length, 
three-quarters of an inch thick. Scales wedge- 
shaped, broad or narrow, three-lobed, lobes variable. Nut oval or 
obovate, one-eighth inch long ; wing rather narrower than the seed. 
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