Part 10

Distinguishing Features: Pawpaw is distinguished by its large, toothless, alternate leaves, its slender buds without bud scales, and its thick, fleshy fruits.

YELLOW BIRCH Betula lutea Michx.

Other Name: Gray Birch.

Growth Form: Moderate tree up to 50 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 1½ feet; crown broadly rounded, with small branches.

Bark: Smooth and silvery or grayish, curling into strips, very rough when old.

Twigs: Slender, greenish-brown, smooth, with numerous lenticels; leaf scars alternate, half-elliptical, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Pointed, brown, usually somewhat hairy, up to ⅙ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades ovate, pointed at the tip, more or less rounded at the somewhat asymmetrical base, up to 5 inches long, and nearly half as wide, double-toothed, dark green and nearly smooth on the upper surface, paler and usually somewhat hairy on the lower surface; leafstalks yellow, hairy, up to one inch long. The leaves turn yellow in the autumn.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate flowers borne separately but on the same tree, the staminate crowded in elongated clusters, the pistillate crowded in shorter, thicker clusters, appearing after the leaves have begun to unfold.

Fruit: Several winged nuts, crowded together in erect “cones” up to 1½ inches long.

Wood: Heavy, hard, strong, pale brown.

Uses: Furniture, flooring, boxes.

Habitat: Wooded slopes.

Range: Newfoundland across to Manitoba, south to Iowa, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, Ohio, and Delaware; also in the Appalachian Mountains to Georgia.

Distinguishing Features: The Yellow Birch differs from all other birches in Illinois by its silvery or grayish bark and its ovate leaves. The bark has the faint fragrance of wintergreen.

RIVER BIRCH Betula nigra L.

Other Name: Red Birch.

Growth Form: Up to 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown irregularly rounded.

Bark: Curling, shredding, brownish-pink to reddish-brown.

Twigs: Slender, reddish-brown, with several short hairs; leaf scars alternate, half-elliptical, with 3 bundle traces.

Buds: Up to one-fourth inch long, pointed, hairy.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades rhombic to ovate, coarsely doubly toothed, paler and densely hairy on the lower surface, up to 3 inches long, acute at the tip, truncate or tapering to the base, the leafstalks woolly.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate on same tree, inconspicuous, opening in late April and May, the staminate in slender drooping clusters, the pistillate in short, conelike, woolly clusters.

Fruit: Tiny, hairy nuts, each with a 3-lobed wing, crowded together in a cylindrical cone up to 1½ inches long and ½ inch thick.

Wood: Strong but light, pale brown.

Uses: Wood is used for furniture; sometimes planted as an ornamental.

Habitat: Along rivers and streams; bottomland woods.

Range: Massachusetts and New Hampshire across to southern Minnesota and eastern Kansas, south to eastern Texas and Florida.