Ostrya Virginica, Willd.

Ostrya Virginiana, Willd.

Hop Hornbeam. Ironwood. Leverwood.

Habitat and Range. —In rather open woods and along highlands.

Common in all parts of New England.

Habit. —A small tree, 25-40 feet high and 8-12 inches in diameter at the ground, sometimes attaining, without much increase in height, a diameter of 2 feet; trunk usually slender; head irregular, often oblong or loosely and rather broadly conical; lower branches sometimes slightly declining at the extremities, but with branchlets mostly of an upward tendency; spray slender and rather stiff. Suggestive, in its habit, of the elm; in its leaves, of the black birch; and in its fruit, of clusters of hops.

Bark. —Trunk and large limbs light grayish-brown, very narrowly and longitudinally ridged, the short, thin segments in old trees often loose at the ends; the smaller branches, branchlets, and in late fall the season's shoots, dark reddish-brown.

Winter Buds and Leaves. —Buds small, oblong, pointed, invested with reddish-brown scales. Leaves simple, alternate, roughish, 2-4 inches long, 1-2 inches wide, more or less appressed-pubescent on both sides, dark green above, lighter beneath; outline ovate to oblong-ovate, sharply and for the most part doubly serrate; apex acute to acuminate; base slightly and narrowly heart-shaped, rounded or truncate, mostly with unequal sides; leafstalks short, pubescent; stipules soon falling.

Inflorescence. —April to May. Sterile flowers from wood of the preceding season, lateral or terminal, in drooping, cylindrical catkins, usually in threes; scales broad, laterally rounded, sharp-pointed, ciliate, each subtending several nearly sessile stamens, filaments sometimes forked, with anthers bearded at the tip: fertile catkins about 1 inch in length, on short leafy shoots, spreading; bracts lanceolate, tapering to a long point, ciliate, each subtending two ovaries, each ovary with adherent calyx, enclosed in a hairy bractlet; styles 2, long, linear.

Fruit. —Early September. A small, smooth nut, enclosed in the distended bract; the aggregated fruit resembling a cluster of hops.

Horticultural Value. —Hardy throughout New England; prefers dry or well-drained slopes in gravelly or rocky soil; graceful and attractive, but of rather slow growth; useful in shady situations and worthy of a place in ornamental plantations, but too small for street use. Seldom raised by nurserymen; collected plants moved with difficulty. Propagated from seed.

Plate XXVIII. —Ostrya Virginica.

Carpinus Caroliniana, Walt.

Hornbeam. Blue Beech. Ironwood. Water Beech.

Habitat and Range. —Low, wet woods, and margins of swamps.

Rather common throughout New England, less frequent towards the coast.

Habit. —A low, spreading tree, 10-30 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 6-12 inches, rarely reaching 2 feet; trunk short, often given a fluted appearance by projecting ridges running down from the lower branches to the ground; in color and smoothness resembling the beech; lower branches often much declined, upper going out at various angles, often zigzag but keeping the same general direction; head wide, close, flat-topped to rounded, with fine, slender spray.

Bark. —Trunk smooth, close, dark bluish-gray; branchlets grayish; season's shoots light green turning brown, more or less hairy.

Winter Buds and Leaves. —Leaf-buds small, oval or ovoid, acute to obtuse. Leaves simple, alternate, 2-3 inches long, dull green above, lighter beneath, turning to scarlet or crimson in autumn; outline ovate or slightly obovate oblong or broadly oval, irregularly and sharply doubly serrate; veins prominent and pubescent beneath, at least when young; apex acuminate to acute; base rounded, truncate, acute, or slightly and unevenly heart-shaped; leafstalk rather short, slender, hairy; stipules pubescent, falling early.

Inflorescence. —May. Sterile flowers from growth of the preceding season in short, stunted-looking, lateral catkins, mostly single; scales ovate or rounded, obtuse, each subtending several stamens; filaments very short, mostly 2-forked; anthers bearded at the tip: fertile flowers at the ends of leafy shoots of the season, in loose catkins; bractlets foliaceous, each subtending a green, ovate, acute, ciliate, deciduous scale, each scale subtending two pistils with long reddish styles.

Fruit. —In terminal catkins made conspicuous by the pale green, much enlarged, and leaf-like 3-lobed bracts, each bract subtending a dark-colored, sessile, striate nutlet.

Horticultural Value. —Hardy throughout New England; prefers moist, rich soil, near running water, on the edges of wet land or on rocky slopes in shade. Its irregular outline and curiously ridged trunk make it an interesting object in landscape plantations. It is not often used, however, because it is seldom grown in nurseries, and collected plants do not bear removal well. Propagated from the seed.

Plate XXIX. —Carpinus Caroliniana.

BETULA.

Inflorescence.—In scaly catkins, sterile and fertile on the same tree, appearing with or before the leaves from shoots of the previous season,—sterile catkins terminal and lateral, formed in summer, erect or inclined in the bud, drooping when expanded in the following spring; sterile flowers usually 3, subtended by a shield-shaped bract with 2 bractlets; each flower consisting of a 1-scaled calyx and 2 anthers, which appear to be 4 from the division of the filaments into two parts, each of which bears an anther cell: fertile catkins erect or inclined at the end of very short leafy branchlets; fertile flowers subtended by a 3-lobed bract falling with the nuts; bractlets none; calyx none; corolla none; consisting of 2-3 ovaries crowned with 2 spreading styles.

Betula lenta, L.

Black Birch. Cherry Birch. Sweet Birch .

Habitat and Range. —Moist grounds; rich woods, old pastures, fertile hill-slopes, banks of rivers.

Maine,—frequent; New Hampshire,—in the highlands of the southern section, and along the Connecticut river valley to a short distance north of Windsor; Vermont,—frequent in the western part of the state, and in the southern Connecticut valley ( Flora of Vermont , 1900); Massachusetts and Rhode Island,—frequent throughout, especially in the highlands, less often near the coast; Connecticut,—widely distributed, especially in the Connecticut river valley, but not common.

Habit. —A medium-sized or rather large tree, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-4 feet, often conspicuous along precipitous ledges, springing out of crevices in the rocks and assuming a variety of picturesque forms. In open ground the dark trunk develops a symmetrical, wide-spreading, hemispherical head broadest at its base, the lower limbs horizontal or drooping sometimes nearly to the ground. The limbs are long and slender, often more or less tortuous, and separated ultimately into a delicate, polished spray. Distinguished by its long purplish-yellow, pendulous catkins in spring, and in summer by its glossy, bright green, and abundant foliage, which becomes yellow in autumn.

Bark. —Bark of trunk on old trees very dark, separating and cleaving off in large, thickish plates; on young trees and on branches a dark reddish-brown, not separating into thin layers, smooth, with numerous horizontal lines 1-3 inches long; branchlets reddish-brown, shining, with shorter lateral lines; season's shoots with small, pale dots. Inner bark very aromatic, having a strong checkerberry flavor,—hence the common name, "checkerberry birch"; called also "cherry birch," from the resemblance of its bark to that of the garden cherry.

Winter Buds and Leaves. —Buds reddish-brown, oblong or conical, pointed, inner scales whitish, elongating as the bud opens. Leaves simple, in alternate pairs, 3-4 inches long and one-half as wide, shining green above and downy when young, paler beneath and silvery-downy along the prominent, straight veins; outline ovate-oval, ovate-oblong, or oval; sharply serrate to doubly serrate; apex acute to acuminate; base heart-shaped to obtuse; leafstalk short, often curved, hairy when young; stipules soon falling.

Inflorescence. —April to May. Sterile catkins 3-4 inches long, slender, purplish-yellow; scales fringed: fertile catkins erect or suberect, sessile or nearly so, ½-1 inch long, oblong-cylindrical; bracts pubescent; lateral lobes wider than in B. lutea.

Fruit. —Fruiting catkins oblong-cylindrical, nearly erect; bracts with 3 short, nearly equal diverging lobes: nut obovate-oblong, wider than its wings; upper part of seed-body usually appressed-pubescent.

Horticultural Value. —Hardy throughout New England; grows everywhere from swamps to hilltops, but prefers moist rocky slopes and a loamy or gravelly soil; occasionally offered by nurserymen; both nursery and collected plants are moved without serious difficulty; apt to grow rather unevenly.

Plate XXX. —Betula lenta.

Betula lutea, Michx. f.

Yellow Birch. Gray Birch.

Habitat and Range. —Low, rich woodlands, mountain slopes.

New England,—abundant northward; common throughout, from borders of lowland swamps to 1000 feet above the sea level; more common at considerable altitudes, where it often occurs in extensive patches or belts.

Habit. —A large tree, at its maximum in northern New England 60-90 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the base. In the forest the main trunk separates at a considerable height into a few large branches which rise at a sharp angle, curving slightly, forming a rather small, irregular head, widest near the top; while in open ground the head is broad-spreading, hemispherical, with numerous rather equal, long and slender branches, and a fine spray with drooping tendencies. In the sunlight the silvery-yellow feathering and the metallic sheen of trunk and branches make the yellow birch one of the most attractive trees of the New England forest.

Bark. —Bark of trunks and large limbs in old trees gray or blackish, lustreless, deep-seamed, split into thick plates, standing out at all sorts of angles; in trees 6-8 inches in diameter, scarf-bark lustrous, parted in ribbon-like strips, detached at one end and running up the trunk in delicate, tattered fringes; season's shoots light yellowish-green, minutely buff-dotted, woolly-pubescent, becoming in successive seasons darker 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, ¼ inch long, mostly appressed, tips of scales brownish. Leaves simple, in alternate pairs or scattered singly along the stem; 3-5 inches long, ½-2 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.

Plate XXXI. —Betula lutea.

Betula nigra, L.

Red Birch. River Birch .

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

No stations in Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, or Connecticut; New Hampshire,—found sparingly along streams in the southern part of the state; abundant along the banks of Beaver brook, Pelham (F. W. Batchelder); Massachusetts,—along the Merrimac river and its tributaries, bordering swamps in Methuen and ponds in North Andover.

Habit. —A medium-sized tree, 30-50 feet high, with a diameter at the ground of 1-1½ 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.

Plate XXXII. —Betula nigra.

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.

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.

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 1¼ inches long and ½ 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.

Plate XXXIII. —Betula populifolia.

Betula papyrifera, Marsh.

Canoe Birch. White Birch. Paper Birch.

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

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.

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 grouped in forests.

Bark. —Easily detachable in broad sheets and separable into thin, delicately colored, paper-like layers, impenetrable by water, outlasting the wood it covers. Bark of trunk and large branches chalky-white when fully exposed to the sun, lustreless, smooth or ragged-frayed, in very old forest trees encrusted with huge lichens, and splitting into broad plates; young trunks and smaller branches smooth, reddish or grayish brown, with numerous roundish buff dots which enlarge from year to year into more and more conspicuous horizontal lines. The white of the bark readily rubs off upon clothing.

Winter Buds and Leaves. —Buds small, ovate, flattish, acute to rounded. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, dark green and smooth above, beneath pale, hairy along the veins, sometimes in young trees thickly glandular-dotted on both sides; outline ovate, ovate-oblong, or ovate-orbicular, more or less doubly serrate; apex acute to acuminate; base somewhat heart-shaped, truncate or obtuse; leafstalk 1-2 inches long, grooved above, downy; stipules falling early.

Inflorescence. —April to May. Sterile catkins mostly in threes, 3-4 inches long: fertile catkins 1-1½ inches long, cylindrical, slender-peduncled, erect or spreading; bracts puberulent.

Fruit. —Fruiting catkins 1-2 inches long, cylindrical, short-stalked, spreading or drooping: nut obovate to oval, narrower than its wings; combined wings butterfly-shaped, nearly twice as wide as long.

Horticultural Value. —Hardy throughout New England; prefers a well-drained loam or gravelly soil, but does fairly well in almost any situation; young trees rapid growing and vigorous, but with the same tendency to grow irregularly that is shown by the black and yellow birches; transplanted without serious difficulty; not offered by many nurserymen, but may be obtained from northern collectors.

Plate XXXIV.—Betula papyrifera.

Alnus glutinosa, Medic.

European Alder.

This is the common alder of Great Britain and central Europe southward, growing chiefly along water courses, in boggy grounds and upon moist mountain slopes; introduced into the United States and occasionally escaping from cultivation; sometimes thoroughly established locally. In Medford, Mass., there are many of these plants growing about two small ponds and upon the neighboring lowlands, most of them small, but among them are several trees 30-40 feet in height and 8-12 inches in diameter at the ground, distinguishable at a glance from the shrubby native alders by their greater size, more erect habit, and darker trunks. pu4vqU0uJn8wdgSc8h2DTqLfz50g1K1zdTqtkC6Ox2/mfBJqwONUIJRJPpxHK/IO

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