Part 24

South, east of the Alleghany mountains, to Florida; west, locally through the northern tier of states to Minnesota and along the Gulf states to Texas; western limits, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian territory, and Missouri.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 30-50 feet high, with a diameter at the ground of 1-1-1/2 feet; reaching much greater dimensions southward. The trunk, frequently beset with small, leafy, reflexed branchlets, and often only less frayed and tattered than that of the yellow birch, develops a light and feathery head of variable outline, with numerous slender branches, the upper long and drooping, the reddish spray clothed with abundant dark-green foliage.

=Bark.=--Reddish, more or less separable into layers, fraying into shreddy, cinnamon-colored fringes; in old trees thick, dark reddish-brown, and deeply furrowed; branches dark red or cinnamon, giving rise to the name of "red birch"; season's shoots downy, pale-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, mostly appressed near the ends of the shoots, tapering at both ends. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-4 inches long, two-thirds as wide, dark green and smooth above, paler and soft-downy beneath, turning bright yellow in autumn; outline rhombic-ovate, with unequal and sharp double serratures; leafstalk short and downy; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins usually in threes, 2-4 inches long, scales 2-3-flowered: fertile catkins bright green, cylindrical, stalked; bracts 3-lobed, the central lobe much the longest, tomentose, ciliate.

=Fruit.=--June. Earliest of the birches to ripen its seed; fruiting catkins 1-2 inches long, cylindrical, erect or spreading; bracts with the 3 lobes nearly equal in width, spreading, the central lobe the longest: nut ovate to obovate, ciliate.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all soils, but prefers a station near running water; young trees grow vigorously and become attractive objects in landscape plantations; especially useful along river banks to bind the soil; retains its lower branches better than the black or yellow birches. Seldom found in nurseries, and rather hard to transplant; collected plants do fairly well.

1. Leaf-buds. 2. Flower-buds. 3. Branch with sterile and fertile catkins. 4. Sterile flower. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Scale of fertile flower. 7. Fruit. 8. Fruiting branch.

=Betula populifolia, Marsh.=

WHITE BIRCH. GRAY BIRCH. OLDFIELD BIRCH. POPLAR BIRCH. POVERTY BIRCH. SMALL WHITE BIRCH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Dry, gravelly soils, occasional in swamps and frequent along their borders, often springing up on burnt lands.

Nova Scotia to Lake Ontario.

Maine,--abundant; New Hampshire,--abundant eastward, as far north as Conway, and along the Connecticut to Westmoreland; Vermont,--common in the western and frequent in the southern sections; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,--common.

South, mostly in the coast region, to Delaware; west to Lake Ontario.

=Habit.=--A small tree, 20-35 feet high, with a diameter at the ground of 4-8 inches, occasionally much exceeding these dimensions; under favorable conditions, of extreme elegance. The slender, seldom erect trunk, continuous to the top of the tree, throws out numerous short, unequal branches, which form by repeated subdivisions a profuse, slender spray, disposed irregularly in tufts or masses, branches and branchlets often hanging vertically or drooping at the ends. Conspicuous in winter by the airy lightness of the narrow open head and by the contrast of the white trunk with the dark spray; in summer, when the sun shines and the air stirs, by the delicacy, tremulous movement, and brilliancy of the foliage.

=Bark.=--Trunk grayish-white, with triangular, dusty patches below the insertion of the branches; not easily separable into layers; branches dark brown or blackish; season's shoots brown, with numerous small round dots becoming horizontal lines and increasing in length with the age of the tree. The white of the bark does not readily come off upon clothing.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds somewhat diverging from the twig; narrow conical or cylindrical, reddish-brown. Leaves simple, alternate, single or in pairs, 3-4 inches long, two-thirds as wide, bright green above, paler beneath, smooth and shining on both sides, turning to a pale shining yellow in autumn, resinous, glandular-dotted when young; outline triangular, coarsely and irregularly doubly serrate; apex taper-pointed; base truncate, heart-shaped, or acute; leafstalks long and slender; stipules dropping early.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins usually solitary or in pairs, slender-cylindrical, 2-3 inches long: fertile catkins erect, green, stalked; bracts minutely pubescent.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins erect or spreading, cylindrical, about 1-1/4 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter, stalked; scales 3-parted above the center, side lobes larger, at right angles or reflexed: nuts small, ovate to obovate, narrower than the wings, combined wings from broadly obcordate to butterfly-shape, wider than long.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England, growing in every kind of soil, finest specimens in deep, rich loam. Were this tree not so common, its graceful habit and attractive bark would be more appreciated for landscape gardening; only occasionally grown by nurserymen, best secured through collectors; young collected plants, if properly selected, will nearly all live.

1. Branch with sterile and fertile catkins. 2. Sterile flower, back view. 3. Fertile flower. 4. Scale of fertile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Fruit.

=Betula papyrifera, Marsh.=

CANOE BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH. PAPER BIRCH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Deep, rich woods, river banks, mountain slopes.

Canada, Atlantic to Pacific, northward to Labrador and Alaska, to the limit of deciduous trees.

Maine,--abundant; New Hampshire,--in all sections, most common on highlands up to the alpine area of the White mountains, above the range of the yellow birch; Vermont,--common; Massachusetts,--common in the western and central sections, rare towards the coast; Rhode Island,--not reported; Connecticut,--occasional in the southern sections, frequent northward.

South to Pennsylvania and Illinois; west to the Rocky mountains and Washington on the Pacific coast.

Var. minor, Tuckerman, is a dwarf form found upon the higher mountain summits of northern New England.