CHAP. CIV. 



ZJETULA^CEiE. .BE'TULA. 



1691 



little succulency, and being astringent and aromatic, they are very rarely sub- 

 ject to the attacks of insects. The wood of all the species is much less 

 durable than the bark. 



Leaves small. Natives chiefly of Europe, 



¥ 1. B. a'lba L. The white, or common, Birch. 



Identification. Lin. Sp. PL, 1393. ; Wffld., 4. p. 4(52. ; FL Br., 1012. ; Engl. Fl., 4. p. 153. ; Hook. 

 Scot., 274.; Hook. Kr. FL, Sded., p. 411. 



Synonymes. B. pubescens Ehrh. Arb., 67., PI. Off., 338. ; B., No. 1628., Hall. Hist. ; 7?etula 

 Raii Syn., 445. ; B. aitnensis Rafi., according to Camp, to Bot. Mag., 1. p. 91. ; Bouleau commun, 

 Fr. ; gemeine Birke, Ger. ,. , ,,. 



Engravings. Eng. Bot., t. 2198. ; Fl. Dan., t. 1467.; Trag. Hist., 1113. f. ; Bauh. Hist, 1. pt. 2. 

 p. 149. f.; Matth. Valgr., 1. p. 121. f. ; Cam. Epit., p. 69. f. ; Dod. Pempt., 839. f. ; Ger. Emac, 

 p. 1378. f. ; I.ob. Ic., 2. p. 190. f. ; our fig. 1547. ; andfig. 1550., of the entire tree ; and the plate 

 of this species in our last Volume. 



Spec. Char., §c. Leaves ovate, acute, somewhat 

 deltoid, unequally serrated, nearly glabrous. 

 (Eng. FL,'iv. p. 153.) A tree, a native of 

 almost every part of Europe, but more espe- 

 cially of the colder regions. A diminutive 

 shrub in the extreme north, but a tree from 

 50 ft. to 60 ft. high in the middle regions ; 

 flowering, in Lapland, in May; and in the 

 Apennines, in February and March. 



Varieties. 



*t B. a. 2 pendula Smith, Lodd. Cat., ed. 

 1836; B. pendula Both Germ., i. p. 

 405., 2., pt. 2. p. 476. ; B. verrucosa 

 Ehrh. Arb., 96., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836, 

 PL Off., 328.; B. pendulis virgulis 

 Loes. Pruss.; the weeping Birch, is a 

 well-known tree, differing from the 

 species in having the shoots more slen- 

 der, smoother, and pendulous. (See the 

 plate of the young tree in our last Volume.) Some Continental and 

 English botanists, and, among the latter, Sir J. E. Smith, are inclined 

 to consider this a variation rather than a variety ; but this opinion 

 does not prevail among cultivators. Sang states that the weeping 

 variety is easily known from the common birch, by its attaining a 

 much larger size; by its main branches being more straight and 

 upright (though its lateral ones are pendent at their extremities) ; 

 and by its leaves being smaller. It attains, he says, the stature of a 

 timber tree in much less time than the common sort; and is far 

 handsomer, both when young and when in a mature state. All these 

 particulars must have been observed by every one who has had much 

 occasion to penetrate into birch forests ; and the circumstance of 

 nurserymen collecting the seeds of this variety, and finding that the 

 majority of the plants produced by them are of the smooth-leaved 

 and weeping kind, leaves no doubt in our mind that B. a. pe'ndula 

 is as much a variety as B. a. pubescens. Sir W. J. Hooker says (Brit. 

 FL, 3d ed., p. 411.) : " There is a variety of this tree (B. pendula 

 Both, Lindl. Syn., p. 229.), with remarkably drooping 

 branches, which are more verrucose than in the 

 common appearance. It is not unfrequent in the 

 Highlands of Scotland, and is generally known by 

 the name of the drooping birch. To this Scott 

 alludes : 



" • Where weeps the birch with silver bark, 

 And long dishevelled hair.'" 



* B. a. 3 pubescens : B. pubescens Ehrh. Beitr., vi. 98., 

 Willd., iv. 462., Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836; and our fig. 

 1548.; has the leaves covered with white hairs; and, though con- 



