Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol04B.djvu/416
BETULA LUTEA, Yellow Birch
- Betula lutea, Michaux f., Hist. Arb. Am. ii. 152 (1812); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. ix. 53, t. 449 (1896), and Trees N. Amer. 197 (1905); Winkler, Betulaceæ, 65 (1904).
- Betula lenta, Linnæus, var. lutea, Regel, in DC. Prod. xvi. 2, p. 179 (1868).
- Betula lenta, Linnæus, var. genuina, Regel, in Mém. Soc. Nat. Mosc. xiii. 126 (1861).
- Betula excelsa, Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. ii. 621 (1814) (not Aiton); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1711 (1838).
A tree, attaining in America 100 feet in height and 3 or 4 feet in diameter. Bark smooth, shining, silvery or golden grey, breaking into ribbon-like strips and curls, which long remain attached; in old trees, ½ inch thick, reddish brown, and fissured. Young branchlets covered with long pale hairs; in the second year smooth, brown, and usually glabrous.
Leaves (Plate 270, Fig. 11), 3 to 4½ inches long, 1½ to 2 inches wide, ovate- oblong, rounded at the base, acute or slightly acuminate at the apex; margin finely and sharply serrate, ciliate between the teeth; nerves nine to twelve pairs; both surfaces with long silky hairs mainly on the midrib and nerves; pale beneath ; petiole pilose.
Fruiting-catkins (Plate 270, Fig. 11) erect, sessile or sub-sessile, ovoid-oblong, 1 to 1½ inch long, ¾ inch in diameter; scale lobes nearly equal, ciliate, pubescent.
In winter the slender twigs are more or less pilose; buds fusiform, ¼ inch long, rather blunt at the apex, with minutely pubescent, ciliate scales.
This species occurs in Newfoundland and along the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to the valley of the Rainy River, extending southwards to Delaware and Minnesota, and along the Alleghany Mountains to the high peaks of North Carolina and Tennessee. It is one of the largest broad-leaved trees of the eastern provinces of Canada and New England, where it is abundant, usually growing in rich soil on moist uplands, in company with the beech, sugar and red maples, black and white ash, and white elm. The leaves turn a bright yellow in autumn. (A.H.)
The yellow birch was introduced into England, according to Loudon, about 1767, but has never become common.
The finest we know of in England grows in a shrubbery near the kitchen garden at Tortworth, and measured in 1907 about 50 feet by 4 feet. It has borne fruit, from which Lord Ducie has raised seedlings. There are small specimens in Kew Gardens.
At Auchendrane, Ayrshire, Mr. Renwick measured a tree in 1907, 57 feet high, with a bole of 15 feet girthing 5 feet 2 inches.
A very fine tree is growing at Oriel Temple, Co. Louth, the seat of Lord Masserene, which was mentioned by Loudon under the name B. lenta. When I saw it in July 1908, it was in perfect health, and measured 58 feet high by 7 feet 4 inches in girth (Plate 260). Loudon states that in his time it was about fifty years planted, and 50 feet high with a diameter of 1 foot 9 inches. (H.J.E.)