The Trees of Texas 61 
The fruit is a leafy scaled ecatkin or a woody cone-lke aggre- 
gate of bracts. Bark smooth, shining, usually scaling away in 
thin plates. 
Bracts of the fruit forming a woody, persistent 
ETA 25 oG tie orc ee ee oat ee 1. Alnus. 
Bracts of the fruit membranous deciduous with 
Le SS i Gale aS coh) PURE SL Na A ee bie Mt co ky le 
1, ALNUS L. Alder. 
Alnus rugosa (Du Roi) K. Koch. Smooth Alder. A shrub 
or small tree sometimes reaching a height of 30°. Bark thin, 
smooth, brown. Leaves 2’ to 414’ long, thick, obovate, oval, 
blunt, or rounded at the apex, sharply serrate, dark green 
above. Nut ovate, sharply margined without wings. 
Maine to Minnesota, Florida and Texas. Usually along 
streams. The trees are too small to be of value for timber. 
The wood is used for fuel and for charcoal. 
2. BETULA L. Birch. 
Betula nigra L. Birch. Water Birch. Red Birch. A large 
forest tree reaching a height of 80°-90° and trunk diameter of 
5°. The branches are slender and the crown is narrow. Bark 
on branches thin, smooth, reddish brown, or silver gray, peel- 
ing off in thin layers; on main trunk thick, reddish brown, 
scaly. Leaves rhombic-ovate, irregularly doubly toothed or 
sometimes lobed, 114’-3’ long, dark green and lustrous above 
somewhat hairy beneath, or smooth except along the veins. 
Flowers opening before or with the leaves. 
Massachusetts to Minnesota and Kansas, Florida and 
Texas. Chiefly along banks of streams, ponds, and swamps. 
In Texas it extends to the Trinity Valley. 
The wood is hard, strong, light brown. It is used for fur- 
niture, and for fuel. 
FAGACEAE Drude. The Beech Family. 
Monoecious trees with watry juice; leaves alternate, pin- 
nately veined, mostly deciduous; staminate flowers in elon- 
