No. 14.] FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS. I47 



Betula lenta L. (tough). 



Cherry, Sweet or Black Birch. 



Frequent or common. Woods, in either dry rocky or rich 

 moist ground. May ; fruit Oct. 



The wood is extensively used in cabinet work. It also 

 yields an oil which is practically identical with the oil of 

 wintergreen, is of much medicinal value and is officinal. A 

 beer is made from the fermented sap. 



Betula lutea Michx. f. (yellow). 

 Yellow or Gray Birch. 



Occasional or frequent. Rich or rocky woods and in 

 swamps. May ; fruit Oct. 



A handsome tree furnishing timber of considerable value, 

 used in cabinet work, for boxes, etc. 



Betula populifolia Marsh, (poplar-leaved). 

 White, Gray or Old Field Birch. 



Common. Woods, clearings, pastures and roadsides, 

 mostly in dry sterile ground. May ; fruit Sept. — Oct. 



Usually the first tree to take possession of abandoned fields. 

 The wood is largely used in making spools. 



Betula alba L. (white), var. papyrif era (Marsh.) Spach (paper- 

 bearing). 

 Betula papyrif era Marsh. 

 Paper, Canoe or White Birch. 



Rich woods and rocky hillsides. Rare near the coast: 

 Lyme (Graves), Huntington (Fames). Becoming occasional 

 northward and frequent in Litchfield County. May; fruit 

 Sept. 



In northern countries the wood and bark of this species 

 are put to the greatest variety of uses. The wood is made 

 into furniture, dishes, spoons, bowls and other wooden ware, 

 ox yokes, shoes, casks and hoops ; the brushwood makes 

 wicker fences, thatch and brooms ; the bark is used for tan- 

 ning ; the North American Indians manufactured their canoes 

 of it and employed it in many other ways ; the sap of this and 

 other species is sometimes made into a kind of wine ; the leaves 

 afford a yellow dye. 



