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BIRCH. 



Family: AMENTACEAE. [Translator's note: now BETULACEAE]. 

 Reproductive system: MONCECY, TETRANDRY. 



The white birch, Betula alba, Linn., is a large tree when it's in good soil, but it's a 

 smaller one on high mountains. Its trunk is covered with smooth white bark. The 

 branches are slender, pendent, and have smooth light green leaves that are oval, almost 

 triangular, with serrate margins. The male flowers form cylindrical catkins that consist of 

 overlapping scales and have twelve stamens. The female flowers form oblong catkins 

 with three-lobed scales. They have two ovaries that turn into two capsules with a 

 monospermous seed compartment, since one compartment fails to develop. The seed has 

 .1 MKnihi.iivu-. ni.ii -jui III c lli.il ••! |Ik dm 



FLOWERS: in July. 



RANGE: Europe, in the worst of terrains. It's found in the Alps above the tree line, 

 but it's small and stunted. 



NOMENCLATURE. Betula is derived from betu, Celtic for birch. German, birke, 

 birkbaum. Dutch, berk. English, the birch tree. Italian, maio. Russian, beresa. Hungarian, 

 nyir-fa. Tatar, kain. Lappic, sake. Greek, symyda. 



USES. The sap of this tree, obtained via incisions made in the trunk toward the end 

 of winter, formerly was touted as a good remedy for pulmonary consumption and for 

 obstructions and disorders of the urinary tract. But nowadays it's gone out of favor, just as 

 its leaves and bark, which had been given for intermittent fevers. 



Birch wood has a number of commercial uses. It has a very fine grain and 

 polishes well. 



