826 



TV'EEDS AA'D TSEFUL PLAXTS. 



paper-like layers. The vrcod is valuable for some kinds of cabinet work, 

 though it is not very durable, when exposed to the weather ; that of the 

 heart is reddish ; the sap-wood white. 



^■^ Barld of tlie trunli reddisli-l/roicn or yeUoicisTL : petioles short : fertile 

 catJrlns ozoid ohJong, scarcely pedunded. 



3. B. ni'gra, L. Leaves rhomboid- 

 o"S'ate, acute, doubly serrate, entire at 

 base, pubescent beneath ; scales of 

 the fertile aments villous, —the lobes 

 sub-linear, obtuse. 



Black Betula. Black Birch. Eed 

 Birch. 



Stem- 40 - 60 or 70 feet high, and 1 - 2 feet in 

 diameter. — the young trees and branches Tvith 

 a smoothish cinnamon-colored bark, the onter 

 layers of old bark exfoliating in thin revolute 

 laminre or sheets. Leaves i - 4 inches long: 

 fjetioJes 1 fourth to 3 fourrhs of an inch in 

 length ; stipules small, oblong-lanceolate. 

 Stdminate aments 2-3 inches fong, flexible 

 and pendulous. Pistillate aments about an 

 inch long, oblong, obtuse, on short peduncles; 

 scales 3-cleft 2 thirds of their length, — the seg- 

 ments equal, linear or spatulate-linear. obtuse. 

 ITut compressed, ovate, with a membranace- 

 ous margin \vhich is widest towards the base. 



Low grounds: banks of streams : Massachu- 

 setts, Southward. Fl. April. Fr. August 



Ots. The timber is close-gi'ained and durable when not exposed to 

 the weather. The wood is said to be highly valuable as fuel. The 

 virgate branches were famous instruments in the hands of pedagogues, 

 cf the olden time, in promoting good order and a close attention to 

 study, among the rising generation, to which the poet Phillips refers, 

 vrhen he sings of 



" affiictivo Birch 



Cursed by unlettered idle youth." 



But " the march of mind." in the present day, has rendered such auxili- 

 aries nearly obsolete ! The flexible twigs of this species, — instead' of 

 being used to stimulate idle boys to learn their lessons — are chiefly 

 employed for making coarse brooms, to sweep streets and court-yards, in 

 J ir cities. 



Fig. 226. The Black or Red Birch (Betula nigra). 



