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Birch (English name of the trees)

the English name of the trees and shrubs belonging to the botanical genus betula. The common birch (betula alba) has ovate-deltoid, acute, doubly ser. rate leaves. Its flowers are in catkins, which come forth in April and May. It grows best in healthy soils and in districts .

The drooping or weeping birch (B. pendula) is a variety of this tree. It grows wild on the European continent and in Asia. The wood of the birch is tough and white. It is used for making brooms; it is often burned into charcoal. The oil obtained from the white rind is used in tanning Russia leather. The Russians turn it to account also as a vermifuge and as a balsam in the cure of wounds. In some countries the bark of the birch is made into hats and drinking cups. The B. nana, or dwarf birch, grows in the Highlands of Scotland, in Lapland, etc. It is a small shrub, one or two feet high. The Laplander uses the wood for fuel, and the leaves, spread over with a reindeer's skin, for a bed. B. lenta is the mahogany birch, mountain mahogany, sweet birch, or cherry birch of North America. Its leaves are fragrant, and have been used as a substitute for tea.

The canoe birch, of which the North American Indians constructed their portable canoes, is the B. papyracea.