VINES AND SHRUBS 



European species (C. avcllana), whose nuts, ripening in 

 October, grace our Thanksgiving table. One species be- 

 comes a tree 50 feet in height (C. columa). 



Low or Swamp Birch 



Betula. pumila.. — Family, Birch. Many flowers in bracted cat- 

 kins of 2 sorts, without corolla. Pistillate catkins peduncled, 

 about 1 inch long, with 2 or 3 flowers in the axils of 3-lobed 

 bractlets. Staminate flowers, 3 together, of 2 stamens, surrounded 

 by a 4-toothed, membranous calyx, with 2 bractlets lying under- 

 neath. Fruit, a small winged nut. Leaves, rather thick, broad, 

 oval or ovate, sometimes narrowed at base, coarsely toothed, 

 with prominent veins reaching to the margin, short-petioled, 

 pale green below, ^ to i| inches long. May and June. 



In bogs, a shrub 2 to 15 feet high, with brown bark and 

 twigs, the young leaves and branches brown, softly downy. 

 New England to New Jersey and westward. 



Dwarf Birch. Glandular or Scrub Birch 



B, glandulbsa.. — heaves, roundish, less than an inch long, 

 crenately toothed, petioled, pale green and with small glands 

 beneath, bright green above. Staminate catkins, single, \ inch 

 long; pistillate, longer, cylindrical. 1 to 4 feet high, with erect, 

 smooth branches, dotted with resinous glands. June and July. 



A Northern species, found in the mountains of New Eng- 

 land, northern New York, Michigan, in the Rocky Mountains, 

 and far to the northward. These shrubs have the aromatic 

 fragrance peculiar to the birch. There are many species of 

 the birch tree and shrub, confined to the northern temperate 

 and arctic countries. 



Smooth Alder 



Alnus rugosa. — Family, Birch. Color of catkins, green. They 

 appear earlier than the leaves, clustered, the sterile elongated, 

 drooping ; the fertile short and thick. These are formed one sum- 

 mer, remain uncovered through the winter, and are developed 

 the next season. Leaves, oval or inversely ovate, narrowed at 

 base, rounded at apex, rather thick, very finely serrulate, 3 to 5 

 inches long, short-petioled, regularly veined, downy on the veins 

 beneath, with oval stipules falling away early. April. 



This shrub grows, mostly near the coast, on hillsides and in 

 wet places, as borders of streams, where it makes close thick- 

 ets. Farther south it attains the size of a small tree. It is 

 usually 5 to 20 feet high. 



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