The White, Paper or Canoe Birch —Betula papyrifera 
/ T V HE canoe birch or the paper birch is one 
of the best known trees throughout its 
range. It is closely associated with our 
history and literature and is one of the most 
beautiful of American trees. It is not so 
abundant in specimens as the gray birch but 
attains a much larger size and forms a much 
more striking feature of the landscape in 
which it grows. Seen against the dark back¬ 
ground of a river or lake the glistening white 
trunks of these trees form so striking a picture 
as to awaken the interest of the most indif¬ 
ferent observer, while a group of young trees 
growing slenderly erect along the border of 
the forest form a picture which is sure to call 
to mind Coleridge’s well-known phrase re¬ 
garding “the lady of the woods.’’ 
Every schoolchild knows of the usefulness 
of the bark of this tree in building the canoes 
of the Indians and early American settlers, 
and everyone who has been so fortunate as to 
roam the woods where it grows has enjoyed 
the fascination of peeling off the thin, almost 
transparent layers of the beautiful bark. In 
these modern days the trees are largely used 
in the making of paper pulp, as well as for 
various purposes in the manufacture of 
lumber products. 
In addition to the loosely peeling, glistening 
white bark this birch may be identified by the 
broadly ovate leaves, less narrowly pointed 
than those of the gray birch, with short, stout 
petioles which are not hairy, and the broad 
catkins which are drooping rather than erect. 
The species is also often called simply the 
white birch and was named by Marsh, 
Betula papyrifera. 
The Paper Birch is a northern species, 
occurring from Labrador and the Great 
Slave Lake region southward as far as New 
York City, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Nebraska 
and Dakota. It is especially abundant in the 
great wilderness region of Canada, northern 
New York and northern New*England, where 
along the banks of lakes and rivers it is one of 
the beautiful and characteristic trees. An 
interesting form in which the base of the 
leaves is cordate is found upon the mountains 
of New England. Plus has been given the 
variety name of cordifoha by Sargent. 
