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nearly a uniform diameter, straight, and destitute of branches for 30 ft. or 40 ft. It is particularly remarkable for the colour and arrangement of its epidermis, which is of a brilliant golden yellow, and frequently divides itself into very fine strips, rolled backwards at the ends, and attached in the middle. The young shoots and leaves, at their unfolding, are downy. Towards the end of summer, when fully expanded, the leaves are perfectly smooth, except the petiole, which remains covered with fine short hairs. The leaves are about 3 in. long, and 2 in. broad; oval, acuminate, and bordered with sharp irregular teeth. The leaves, the bark, and the young shoots, have all an agreeable taste and smell, similar to those of the black birch (B. lénta), though they lose it in drying. In its fructification, this species nearly resembles B. lénta. The female catkins are borne on short peduncles, and are twelve or fifteen lines long, and 5 or 6 lines in diameter; straight, of an oval shape, and nearly cylindrical. The scales which compose them are trifid, pointed, and about 3 lines in length; viewed through a lens, they are seen to be downy. Beneath these scales are the small-winged seeds, which are ripe, in America, about the 1st of October. (N. Amer. Syl., ii. p. 104.) It abounds in the forests of Nova Scotia, of New Brunswick, and of the district of Maine. In New Jersey and Pennsylvania, it is rare, and only met with in moist and shady situations. It is confounded by the inhabitants of these countries with B. lénta, which is very abundant there, and to which it bears a striking resemblance. In the district of Maine, it is always found in cool and rich soils, among ash trees, the hemlock spruce, and the black spruce. It attains the height of 60 ft. or 70 ft., with a trunk of more than 2 ft. in diameter. It requires a moister soil than most of the other American birches. "The wood of the yellow birch is inferior in quality and appearance to that of B. lénta, and never assumes so deep a shade; but it is strong, and, when well polished, makes handsome furniture. In Nova Scotia, and in the district of Maine, it is found by experience, to be every way proper for that part of the framework of vessels which always remains in the water.

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In the district of Maine, it is preferred for the yokes of cattle, and for the frames of sledges; and, in Nova Scotia, the young saplings are almost exclusively employed for making the hoops of casks." (N. Amer. Syl., vol. ii. p. 105.) The wood is excellent for fuel, and the bark is highly esteemed by tanners. Boards of this tree were formerly imported into Ireland and Scotland in large quantities, and were much used in joinery. Michaux considers it better adapted to the soil and climate of Germany than to those of France, on account of the moisture which it requires. Though this species has been in British gardens since 1767, when it was introduced by Mr. Gordon of the Mile End Nursery, yet it is not common in collections. There are plants in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, but they are small; and to us they appear to bear a close resemblance in their leaves to B. lénta. Willdenow mentions that there are no large trees of this kind about Berlin. Plants, in the London nurseries, are

from 18. to ls. 6d. each, and seeds 1s. 6d. per quart; at Bollwyller, the young plants may be obtained for 2 francs; and at New York, plants are 25 cents each, and seeds 1 dollar and 35 cents per quart, and 4 dollars per bushel.

11. B. LENTA L. The pliant Birch.

The

Identification. Willd. Sp. Pl., 4. p. 464., Enum., 981., Baum., p. 49.; Wend. Coll., 2. p. 8.; Pursh FL. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 621.; N. Du Ham., 3. p. 205.; Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. Synonymes. B. carpinifolia Ehrh. Beitr., 6. p. 99., Willd. Enum., 981., Baum., p. 49., Wendl. Coll., 2. p. 81., Michz. Arb., 2. p. 145.; B. nigra Du Roi Herb., 1. p. 93., Wang. Beitr., p. 35. plant is, under both these names, and also under that of B. lénta, in Loddiges's arboretum. Black Birch, Cherry Birch, Canada Birch, sweet Birch, Mountain Mahogany, Amer.; Bouleau Mérisier, Engravings. Wang. Beitr., t. 15. f. 34.; Wend. Coll., 2. t. 41.; Michx. Arb., 2. t. 94. ; and our fig. 1566.

Fr.

Spec. Char., &c. Leaves cordate-ovate, acutely serrated, acuminate; petioles and nerves hairy beneath. Scales of the strobiles smooth, having the side lobes obtuse, equal, with prominent veins. (Willd. Sp. Pl., iv. p. 464.) A tree, from 60 ft. to 70 ft. high; a native of North America, from Canada to Georgia; and flowering there in May and June. Introduced in 1759. Description, &c. According to Pursh, this is an elegant and large tree, the most interesting of its genus, on account of the excellence of its wood. In favourable situations, it sometimes exceeds 70 ft. in height, with a trunk 2 ft. or 3 ft. in diameter. The 1566

outer bark, on old trees, detaches itself transversely at intervals, in hard plates, 6 in. or 8 in. broad; but, on trees with trunks not more than 8 in. in diameter, the bark is smooth, greyish, and perfectly similar in its colour and organisation to that of the cherry tree. In the neighbourhood of New York, B. lénta is one of the first trees to renew its leaves. These, during a fortnight after their appearance, are covered with a thick silvery down, which afterwards disappears. They are about 2 in. long, serrated, somewhat cordiform

In

The

at the base, acuminate at the summit, of a pale tint, and fine texture. general appearance, they are not unlike those of the cherry tree. young shoots are brown, smooth, and dotted with white, as are also the leaves. When bruised, the leaves diffuse a very sweet odour; and, as they retain this property when dry if carefully preserved, they make an agree able tea, with the addition of sugar and milk. The male catkins are flexible, and about 4 in. long: the female ones are 10 or 12 lines long, and 5 or 6 lines in diameter; straight, cylindrical, and nearly sessile, at the season of their maturity, which is about the 1st of November. The tree is of very rapid growth; as a proof of which, Michaux gives an instance of one, which, in 19 years, had attained the height of 45 ft. 8 in. Michaux found the cherry birch in Nova Scotia, in the district of Maine, and on the estate of Vermont. It is abundant in the neighbourhood of New York, and in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Farther south, it is confined to the summit of the Alleghanies; and it is found throughout their whole range, to its termination in Georgia. On the steep and shady banks of the rivers which issue from these mountains, in deep, loose, and cool soils, it attains its largest size. The wood of B. lénta, when freshly cut, is of a rosy hue, which deepens by exposure to the light. Its grain is fine and close: it possesses a considerable degree of strength, and

takes a brilliant polish. The union of these properties renders the wood superior to that of all the other American birches. In Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, the wood of this birch is next in esteem to that of the wild cherry (Cérasus virginiàna). Tables, bedsteads, arm-chairs, sofas, coach panels, shoe-lasts, and a great many other articles, are made of it. Hunter, in his notes to Evelyn's Sylva, vol. i. p. 219., says that the sap of this tree is used by the inhabitants of Kamtschatka without previous fermentation; and that the natives strip off the bark when it is green, cut it into long narrow strips, like vermicelli, and, after drying it, stew it with their caviare. Michaux strongly recommends the tree for cultivation, on a large scale, in the north of France, in England, and in Germany; and to the lovers of curious trees, "as eminently adapted, from the beauty of its foliage and the agreeable odour of its flowers, to figure in their parks and gardens." Though cultivated by Miller as early as 1759, it has never been much introduced into plantations, either useful or ornamental. In the year 1818, it was recommended by a committee of the Caledonian Horticultural Society, as likely to prove a better tree than the common birch for the moist and deep soils of the Highland valleys of Scotland; but we have never heard of any of this, or of any other American species of birch being tried there. One reason may be the high price of these plants in the nurseries, which arises solely from the want of demand, as all the species are just as easily raised from seed as the common birch. As these seeds are procurable at very low prices, we repeat our recommendation to private gentlemen to purchase them, and to raise plants in their own nurseries. There are plants of this birch at Messrs. Loddiges's; and there is a considerable tree of it at Syon, which ripens abundance of seeds yearly. In Ireland, at Oriel Temple, 50 years planted, it is 52 ft. high; diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 9 in., and of the head 42 ft. Plants, in the London nurseries, are from 1s. to ls. 6d. each; and seeds are 1s. per quart. At New York, plants are 12 cents each; and seeds 60 cents per pound, 30 cents per quart, and 5 dollars per bushel.

App. i. Species of Birch not yet introduced.

In Royle's Illustrations, several species of birch are mentioned as occupying the loftiest stations in the mountains of Nepal, and other parts of the Himalayas, " as might be expected," he adds, "from this genus extending to the highest latitudes." B. Bhojpúttra Wall., the most useful and most generally known species, is found on Gossainthan, in Kamaon, or Choor, and in Kedarkanta. B. nítida and B. cylindrostachya occur with the former in Kamaon; the latter extending also to Manma and Dhunoultee. B. resinífera Royle, confined to Kunawar, with catkins resembling those of B. lùtea Michx., has leaves something like those of B. papyrifera. (Illust., &c., p. 344.) Dr. Lindley has described four of these species in the Penny Cyclopædia; and, as they are likely to prove hardy, and will probably soon be introduced, we give the following descriptions from that work, and from the work of Dr. Wallich:

B. Bhojputtra Wall. The Indian Paper Birch. Leaves oblong-acute, with nearly simple serratures, somewhat heart-shaped at the base; their stalks, veins, and twigs hairy. Female catkins erect, cylindrical, oblong. Bracteas smooth, woody, two-parted, blunt, much longer than the fruit, which has narrow wings. A tree, found on the alps of Gurwal, in Kamaon, where its thin delicate bark furnishes the masses of flexible laminated matter, of which great quantities are brought down into the plains of India, for lining the tubes of hookahs; and which is used by the mountaineers, instead of paper, for writing upon. The Sanscrit name of the substance is boorjee; a word which Mr. Graves Haughton considers the root of birch; and one of many proofs that the Saxon part of the English language is descended from the Sanscrit. (Wall. Plant. As. Rar., vol. ii. p. 7.) The bark of this species is of a pale cinnamon colour. It is nearly allied to B. papyracea. It would form a beautiful tree in this country.

B. acuminata Wall. has leaves ovate lanceolate, sharply serrated, taper-pointed, smooth, dotted beneath; leaf-stalks and twigs quite smooth; ripe catkins very long, pendulous, cylindrical, crowded: the rachis, and the bracteas, which are auricled at the base, downy. Found on many of the mountains of Nepal, and in the great valley of that country, following the course of rivers. The flowers and fruit are produced from December to April. It forms a very large and noble tree, from 50 ft. to 60 ft. high, of an oval shape, being covered with branches from its base. The wood is stated by Dr. Wallich to be greatly esteemed by the inhabitants, who employ it for all sorts of purposes where strength and durability are required. "Prof. Lindley thinks that B. alnöides (Don's Prod. Nep., p. 58.) refers to this variety." (Wall. Pl. As. Rar., t. 109.)

B. nitida. The shining Birch. Leaves oblong, taper-pointed, with fine double serratures, the twigs and leaf-stalks hairy. Female catkins pendulous, cylindrical, crowded. Bracts three-lobed, hairy, with the lengthened middle lobe longer than the fruit. A tree, found in Kamaon.

B. cylindrostachya has leaves oblong, taper-pointed, heart-shaped, with fine double serratures; twigs, leaf-stalks, and veins downy; female catkins pendulous, very long, cylindrical; fruit deeply two-lobed; bracts linear-lanceolate, blunt, membranous, with two teeth at the base, fringed with hairs. A tree, found in Kamaon.

CHAP. CV.

OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CORYLA`CEÆ, OR CUPULI FERÆ.

QUERCUS Lin. Flowers unisexual; those of both sexes upon one plant. — Male flowers disposed in long, slender, pendulous catkins; the catkins in groups. Each flower consists of 8 or more stamens, and these are attended by 6-8 bracteas, that are coherent at the base, and resemble a 6-8parted calyx. Female flowers borne upon erect axillary peduncles; a few upon a peduncle. Each flower consists of a pistil, whose ovary, and the basal part of whose style, are invested with an adnate calyx, that is toothed at the tip; and the part of this that covers the ovary is again invested with involucral scales, that are connate with external imbricate bracteal ones. Ovary with 3 cells (? 5 in Q. I'lex), and 2 ovules in each, that at first are erect, soon after pendulous. Style short. Stigma 3-lobed (? 5-lobed in Q. I`'lex.), rather fleshy. - Fruit an acorn, mostly oblong or ovate; its lower part invested with an imbricate cup; its base scarred; the rest of its surface invested with the adherent, coriaceous, smooth calyx, that is separable by art; cell, by abortion, 1; seed, by abortion, 1, very rarely 2. Species numerous. Trees, chiefly large and deciduous; for the greater part natives of the temperate zone of the northern hemispheres, but some of them found on mountains in the torrid zone. Leaves alternate, annual, or persistent. Scales of the buds imbricated. Leaves conduplicate in the bud. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ. Illustr. ; Smith Eng. Fl., iv. p. 148. ; and observation.)

FAGUS Tourn. Flowers unisexual, those of the two sexes upon one plant.

--

Male flowers in stalked drooping heads, or capitate catkins, 3 or 4 in each, attended by minute deciduous bracteas. Each flower consists of a 5—6-cleft bell-shaped calyx, and 8-12 stamens, that arise from the bottom of the calyx, and extend beyond its mouth. - Female flowers borne 2-6 together, within a pitcher-shaped indistinctly 4-lobed involucre, constituted of numerous unequal bracteal scales, and interior scales grown together. Each flower consists of a calyx, lengthened into a laciniate limb, and investing the ovary. An ovary of 3 angles, and 3 cells, and 2 pendulous ovules in each. Fruit. Nuts as many as, or fewer than, the ovaries, surrounded by the externally echinate involucre, that becomes 4-valved, and somewhat woody. Nuts upright, having 3 acute corners, crowned at the tip with the hairy lobes of the calyx: each includes 2-3 seeds, pendulous at the tip of the partly obliterated dissepiments, where are the remains of the abortive ovules.-Species few. Trees tall in stature; natives of the colder parts of Europe and America. Leaves alternate, annual, feather-veined, plaited in the bud. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ. ; Smith Eng. Fl., iv. p. 150, 151.; and observation.)

CASTANEA Tourn. Flowers unisexual, very rarely bisexual; those of the distinct sexes upon one plant. — Male flowers each consisting of a 6-parted calyx, and 10—15 stamens, affixed to its bottom, and extended beyond its mouth. The flowers are sessile, and disposed in groups along axillary stalks: each group consists of many flowers, and is involucrated by a bractea and a bracteole. The female flowers consist each of an ovary, tapered to the tip, clothed with a calyx, and crowned by its 6-7-8-cleft limb, and bearing as many styles, and having as many cells, with two pendulous ovules in each. The flowers are disposed 2-3 or more together, within a bellshaped, and externally bristly involucre, and the involucred groups are disposed upon terminal stalks, that are lengthened out as the flowers advance to the state of fruit; a few at the base of the stalks that bear the groups of male flowers, and some solitarily in the axils of leaves. - Fruit. The involucre is 4-valved, and includes 2-3 nuts; the rest of the number of ovaries being abortive. The nuts are large, and have

a large scar at the base: they have 1 cell, and 1, 2, or 3 seeds. Species few. Natives of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. Leaves alternate, annual, feather-veined, plaited in the bud. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Fl. Germ.; Smith Eng. Fl., iv. p. 150-152.; and observation.) CO'RYLUS Lin. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes in distinct catkins upon the same plant.- Male flowers in cylindrical catkins. Bracteas sessile, imbricate. Two perigonial scales, that cohere at the base, are adnate to the under surface of the bracteal scale. Stamens 8, inserted upon the perigonial scales towards their base, and in about the line of their cohesion. Anthers bearded at the tip of one cell. - Female flowers in a bud-like catkin, which is developed into a branchlet: the flowers are borne at its tip. Bracteal scales ovate, entire. Ovaries many, very minute; grouped; each invested with minute, lacerated, villous, involucral scales, that cohere at the base; having 2 cells, each including 1 ovule, and this apparently erect when young, pendulous when adult. Calyx not obvious; formed of a slightly villous membrane, that covers the ovary to the tip, and, as the ovary progresses to a nut, adheres to it most closely, and becomes part of the shell. Stigmas 2, long, thread-shaped.-Fruit. Nut ovate; included in a large, leafy, tubular involucre, that is lacerate at the tip; without valves, or, very rarely, with 2; scarred at the base; by abortion, 1-seeded. Seed adhering to the remains of the dissepiment. Species few. Large shrubs and trees, occurring in the colder zones of the northern hemisphere. Leaves alternate, entire, feather-veined. Flowers protruded before the leaves. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ., and observation.)

CARPINUS Tourn. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes in distinct catkins upon one plant. — Male flowers. The catkin lateral, sessile, cylindrical. The bracteas imbricate. The flower consists of 12 or more stamens, inserted at the base of a bractea. Anthers bearded at the tip, 1celled.-Female flowers in lax terminal catkins. Bracteas of 2 kinds, outer and inner outer bracteas entire, soon falling off; inner bracteas in pairs, each 3-lobed, with the side lobes much the smaller, forming an involucre about an ovary. Calyx clothing the ovary to near its tip, and adhering to it; toothed at the tip. Ovary with 2 cells, an ovule in each; the ovule early pendulous: one of them becomes abortive. Style very short. Stigmas 2, long, thread-shaped. Fruit. Nut attended by the involucre, and ovate, compressed, ribbed, clothed except at the base, and tipped with the adnate thin calyx; woody; including one seed. Species about 3. Natives of Europe, the Levant, and North America. Leaves alternate, annual, feather-veined, plaited in the bud. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck Gen. Pl. Fl. Germ. Illustr.)

O'STRYA Michx. Flowers unisexual; those of the two sexes in distinct catkins upon the same plant. - Male flowers. The bracteas of the catkin simple, imbricate. Flower of 12 or more stamens, inserted at the base of a bractea; filaments branched, each branch bearing an anther; anthers each of 1 cell. Female flowers. Bracteas small, deciduous. Involucral scales in pairs, hairy at the base, the pair growing together at their opposed edges, and constituting an inflated covering to the ovary, which it conceals. Calyx investing the whole ovary, and extended at the tip into a very short ciliate tube. Ovary having two cells, and 1 ovule in each. Style short. Stigmas 2, long, thread-shaped.- Fruit a nut, minute, ovate, even; bearded at the tip; 1-seeded from abortion; covered by an inflated, nerved, membranous involucre. The fruits of a catkin imbricately disposed into an ovate spike. Species few. Trees, natives of the temperate zones of both hemispheres. Leaves alternate, annual, feather-veined. (T. Nees ab Esenbeck, and observation.)