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.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIII.--Betula populifolia.]

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.

=Habit.=--A large tree, 50-75 feet high, with a diameter of 1-3 feet;
occasionally of greater dimensions. The trunk develops a
broad-spreading, open head, composed of a few large limbs ascending at
an acute angle, with nearly horizontal secondary branches and a
slender, flexible spray without any marked tendency to droop.
Characterized by the dark metallic lustre of the branchlets, the dark
green foliage, deep yellow in autumn, and the chalky whiteness of the
trunk and large branches; a singularly picturesque tree, whether
standing alone or gr