Michigan Trees - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
+BETULACEAE+
+Yellow Birch. Gray Birch+
_Betula lutea Michx. f._
HABIT.--A tree 60-80 feet high and 2-4 feet in trunk diameter; numerous slender, pendulous branches form a broad, open, rounded crown.
LEAVES.--Alternate, solitary or in pairs, simple, 3-5 inches long and one-half as broad; ovate to oblong-ovate; sharply doubly serrate; dull dark green above, yellow-green beneath; petioles short, slender, grooved, hairy; slightly aromatic.
FLOWERS.--April, before the leaves; monoecious; the staminate catkins 3-4 inches long, slender, pendent, purplish yellow; the pistillate catkins sessile or nearly so, erect, almost 1 inch long, greenish.
FRUIT.--Ripens in autumn; sessile or short-stalked, erect, glabrous strobiles, about 1 inch long and half as thick; scales downy on the back and edges; nut about as broad as the wing.
WINTER-BUDS.--Terminal bud absent; lateral buds about 1/4 inch long, conical, acute, chestnut-brown, more or less appressed; bud-scales more or less p.u.b.escent.
BARK.--Twigs, branches and young stems smooth, very l.u.s.trous, silvery gray or light orange; becoming silvery yellow-gray as the trunk expands and breaking into strips more or less curled at the edges; old trunks becoming gray or blackish, dull, deeply and irregularly fissured into large, thin plates; somewhat aromatic, slightly bitter.
WOOD.--Heavy, very strong and hard, close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thin, whitish sapwood.
DISTRIBUTION.--Throughout the state, but more abundant and of larger size northward.
HABITAT.--Prefers rich, moist uplands, but grows in wet or dry situations.
NOTES.--One of the largest deciduous-leaved trees of Michigan. Easily transplanted, but not desirable as a street tree.
[Ill.u.s.tration: +Paper Birch. Canoe Birch. White Birch+
1. Winter twig, 1.
2. Portion of twig, enlarged.
3. Leaf, 1.
4. Flowering branchlet, 1/2.
5. Staminate flower, enlarged.
6. Pistillate flower, enlarged.
7. Fruiting branchlet, 1/2.
8. Fruit, 3-1/2.]
+BETULACEAE+
+Paper Birch. Canoe Birch. White Birch+
_Betula alba papyrifera_ (_Marsh._) _s.p.a.ch_. [_Betula papyrifera Marsh._]
HABIT.--A tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-3 feet, forming in youth a compact, pyramidal crown of many slender branches, becoming in old age a long, branchless trunk with a broad, open crown, composed of a few large limbs ascending at an acute angle, with almost horizontal branches and a slender, flexible spray.
LEAVES.--Alternate, simple, 2-3 inches long, 1-1/2-2 inches broad; ovate; coa.r.s.ely, more or less doubly serrate; thick and firm; glabrous, dark green above, lighter beneath, covered with minute black glands; petioles stout, yellow, glandular, glabrous or p.u.b.escent.
FLOWERS.--April, before the leaves; monoecious; the staminate catkins cl.u.s.tered or in pairs, 3-4 inches long, slender, pendent, brownish; the pistillate catkins about 1-1/2 inches long, slender, erect or spreading, greenish; styles bright red.
FRUIT.--Ripens in autumn; long-stalked, cylindrical, glabrous, drooping strobiles, about 1-1/2 inches long; scales hairy on the margin; nut narrower than its wing.
WINTER-BUDS.--Terminal bud absent; lateral buds 1/4 inch long, narrow-ovoid, acute, flattish, slightly resinous, usually divergent.
BARK.--Twigs dull red, becoming l.u.s.trous orange-brown; bark of trunk and large limbs cream-white and l.u.s.trous on the outer surface, bright orange on the inner, separating freely into thin, papery layers, becoming furrowed and almost black near the ground.
WOOD.--Light, hard, strong, tough, very close-grained, light brown tinged with red, with thick, whitish sapwood.
DISTRIBUTION.--Lansing and northward. Common in central Michigan as a small tree. Of larger size in the Upper Peninsula.
HABITAT.--Prefers rich, moist hillsides; borders of streams, lakes and swamps; but is also found in drier situations.
NOTES.--A rapid grower in youth. The bark is used by the Indians and woodsmen for canoes, wigwams, baskets, torches, etc.
[Ill.u.s.tration: +Beech. White Beech+
1. Winter twig, 1.
2. Portion of twig, enlarged.
3. Leaf, 1.
4. Flowering branchlet, 3/4.
5. Staminate flower, enlarged.
6. Pistillate flower, enlarged.
7. Bur, opened, 1.
8. Nut, 1.]
+f.a.gACEAE+
+Beech. White Beech+
_f.a.gus grandifolia Ehrh._ [_f.a.gus atropunicea_ (_Marsh._) _Sudw._]
[_f.a.gus ferruginea Ait._] [_f.a.gus americana Sweet_]
HABIT.--A beautiful tree, rising commonly to a height of 50-75 feet, with a trunk diameter of 2-4 feet; in the forest, tall and slender, with short branches forming a narrow crown, in the open with a short, thick trunk and numerous slender, spreading branches, forming a broad, compact, rounded crown.
LEAVES.--Alternate, simple, 3-5 inches long, one-half as broad; oblong-ovate, ac.u.minate; coa.r.s.ely serrate, a vein terminating in each tooth; thin; dark blue-green above, light yellow-green and very l.u.s.trous beneath; petioles short, hairy.
FLOWERS.--April-May, with the leaves; monoecious; the staminate in globose heads 1 inch in diameter, on long, slender, hairy peduncles, yellow-green; calyx campanulate, 4-7-lobed, hairy; corolla 0; stamens 8-10; the pistillate on short, hairy peduncles in 2-flowered cl.u.s.ters surrounded by numerous awl-shaped, hairy bracts; calyx urn-shaped, 4-5-lobed; corolla 0; ovary 3-celled; styles 3.
FRUIT.--Ripens in autumn; a p.r.i.c.kly bur borne on stout, hairy peduncles, persistent on the branch after the nuts have fallen; nuts usually 3, 3/4 inch long, sharply tetrahedral, brownish; sweet and edible.
WINTER-BUDS.--Nearly 1 inch long, very slender, cylindrical, gradually taper-pointed, brownish, p.u.b.erulous.
BARK.--Twigs l.u.s.trous, olive-green, finally changing through brown to ashy gray; close, smooth, steel-gray on the trunk, often mottled by darker blotches and bands.
