YELLOW BIRCH
Betula lutea, Michx.
Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 2-4 feet; trunk short and usually forking near the base; crown rounded, open.
Leaves.—Alternate, solitary or in pairs, simple, 3-4 inches long, acute at apex, doubly serrate, dull green.
Flowers.—April; monoecious; staminate flowers in pendent purplish catkins; the pistillate in shorter, erect, greenish catkins.
Fruit.—Cone-shaped strobiles, 1 inch long and erect, scales of strobile downy on the back and edges; nut small, about as broad as its wing.
Bark.—Silvery yellow-gray, with thin, papery layers separating and often curling at the edges giving the trunk a ragged appearance; slightly aromatic, and bitter. Campers often use the loose outer bark for starting camp fires in wet weather.
Wood.—Heavy, strong, hard, close-grained light reddish-brown, with nearly white sapwood.
Range.—Newfoundland to Minnesota and south to North Carolina.
Distribution in West Virginia.—Frequent, especially in mountain sections, growing with spruce and hemlock; rare in low hilly parts of the State and in the Eastern Panhandle; found along streams and in other damp situations on the outskirts of its range.