arker and more lustrous, the dots elongating into
horizontal lines. Aromatic but less so than the bark of the black birch;
not readily detachable like the bark of the canoe birch.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds conical, 1/4 inch long, mostly
appressed, tips of scales brownish. Leaves simple, in alternate pairs or
scattered singly along the stem; 3-5 inches long, 1/2-2 inches wide,
dull green on both sides, paler beneath and more or less pubescent on
the straight veins; outline oval to oblong, for the most part doubly
serrate; apex acuminate or acute; base heart-shaped, obtuse or truncate;
leafstalk short, grooved, often pubescent or woolly; stipules soon
falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins 3-4 inches long,
purplish-yellow; scales fringed: fertile catkins sessile or nearly so,
about 1 inch long, cylindrical; bracts 3-lobed, nearly to the middle,
pubescent, lobes slightly spreading.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins oblong or oblong-ovoid, about 1 inch long and
two-thirds as thick, erect: nut oval to narrowly obovate, tapering at
each end, pubescent on the upper part, about the width of its wing.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in wet or
dry situations, but prefers wet, peaty soil, where its roots can find a
constant supply of moisture; similar to the black birch, equally
valuable in landscape-gardening, but less desirable as a street tree;
transplanted without serious difficulty.

Differences between black birch and yellow birch:

=Black Birch.=--Bark reddish-brown, not separable into thin layers;
leaves bright green above, finely serrate; fruiting catkins cylindrical;
bark of twigs decidedly aromatic.

=Yellow Birch.=--Bark yellow, separable into thin layers; leaves dull
green above; serration coarser and more decidedly doubly serrate;
fruiting catkins ovoid or oblong-ovoid; flavor of bark less distinctly
aromatic.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXI.--Betula lutea.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flower-buds.
3. Flowering branch.
4-6. Sterile flowers.
7. Fertile flower.
8. Bract.
9. Fruiting branch.
10. Fruit.

=Betula nigra, L.=

RED BIRCH. RIVER BIRCH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Along rivers, ponds, and woodlands inundated a
part of the year.

Doubtfully and indefinitely reported from Canada.

No stations in Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, or Connecticut; New
Hampshire,--found sparingly along streams in the southern part of the
state; abundant along