370 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



IS a Japanese species named B Thunhe?'gi, which forms a dwarf, 

 compact, much-branched bush, with small pendent flowers and 

 tinv pale green leaves, which are brilliant crimson, orange, and 

 yellow in autumn ; this is a first-rate subject for small gardens, 

 as well as for planting in front of taller-growing shrubs. 

 B. virescens and B. cojiciujia are effective. B. angulosa is beautiful 

 in the autumn, the foliag:e dvins; off a crimson-scarlet colour. 



Birches {Betula) are scattered over Europe, Asia, Japan, and 

 North America, and vary from mere bushes to trees nearly 

 looft. high. Few trees, either exotic or native, are more 

 beautiful than our own British Birch {Betula alba^ Fig. 241). 



Its elegant pendulous branches are 

 clothed with leaves of the tenderest 

 green in spring and summer, and in 

 winter its erect slender silver trunk 

 adds a touch of colour to the land- 

 scape. It grows to a height of about 

 60ft. There are many forms of the 

 Common Birch, and the following 

 list comprises some of the most 

 ornamental : B. a. pii?-purea is of 

 drooping habit, with dark purple 

 leaves ; distinct and handsome. 

 B. a. fastigiata is of free, distinct 

 s:rowth : in habit it resembles the 

 Lombardy Poplar. B. a. dalecarlica 

 {B. laciniafa) should be included in 

 a list of select trees ; the smooth 

 green leaves are deeply cut and 

 lobed. B. Ie?ita (Chern.- Birch) 

 reaches a height of 70ft., and forms 

 a round-headed tree : with a2;e the 

 branches droop graceful!}-. B. Maxi- 

 ?fioii'itzii, one of the latest additions 

 to the Birches, is very ornamental, 

 free in growth, and quite hardy : 

 it is a Japanese species with large 

 leaves — much larsjer than those of 

 anv other Birch — and has rather 

 dull orange-coloured bark. B. ?u'gra 

 (Red Birch") loves a moist soil, such 

 as on the margins of lakes and 

 streams, and is well adapted for 

 -public parks and gardens: its rough, picturesque trunk is 

 handsome. B. occidcntalis (Black Birch) also delights in damp 

 soil ; it is of elegant habit, with long, pendulous branches, and 

 dark sreen bark. B. populifolia {B. acinnhiafa) and B. papy- 

 .rifera^ 2xt useful for the park. B. nana is ver}- distinct : it 



Fig. 2 41. — Betula alba. 



