DC IDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
165 
base, very acuminate, and doubly and irregularly toothed. 
The petioles are slightly twisted, and the leaves are almost 
as tremulous as those of the aspen. It is a beautiful small 
tree for ornamental plantations. 
The common Black or Sweet birch. ( B . lenta.) This is 
the sort most generally known by the name of the birch, and 
is widely diffused over the middle and southern states. 
In colour and appearance the bark much resembles that of 
the cherry tree ; on old trees, at the close of winter, it is fre- 
quently detached in transverse portions, in the form of hard 
ligneous plates, six or eight inches broad. The leaves, for a 
fortnight after their appearance, are covered with a thick sil- 
very down, which disappears soon after. They are about two 
inches long, serrate, heart-shaped at the base, acuminate at 
the summit, and of a pleasing tint and fine texture. The 
wood is of excellent quality, and Michaux recommends its 
introduction largely into the forests of the north of Europe. 
The Yellow birch, [B. lutea ,) grows most plentifully in 
Nova Scotia, Maine, and New-Brunswick, on cool, rich soils, 
where it is a tree of the largest size. It is remarkable for the 
colour and arrangement of its outer bark, which is of a bril- 
liant golden yellow, and is frequently seen divided into fine 
strips rolled backwarks at the end, but attached in the middle. 
The leaves are about three and a half inches long, two and a 
half broad, ovate, acuminate, and bordered with sharp and 
irregular teeth. It is a beautiful tree, with a trunk of nearly 
uniform diameter, straight, and destitute of branches for thirty 
or forty feet. 
The Red birch, ( B . rubra ) belongs chiefly to the south, 
being scarcely ever seen north of Virginia. It prefers the 
moist soil of river banks, where it reaches a noble height. 
It takes its name from the cinnamon or reddish colour of the 
