1706

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

Canada , of high mountainsin New York and Penn-sylvania , where it does notgrow above 2 ft. or 3 ft. high,and flowers in May and June.The root is red, and is usedfor inlaying. It was intro-duced in 1762; and thereare plants at Messrs. Lod-diges’s. It appears but littledifferent from the precedingsort, and both are probablyonly stunted varieties of B.alba.

sis 5. B. na'na L. The dwarf Birch .

Identification. Lin. Sp. PI., 1394. ; Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 465. ; FI. Br., 1012. ; Eng. FI., 4. p. 151.;Hook. Scot., p. 274. ; Dicks. II. Sicc., fasc. 8. 16. ; Ehrh. Arb., 18. ; Gagneb. Act. Helvet., I.p. 58. ; Lind. Wicksb., 5.; Hayne Dend., p. 168. ; Pursh FI. Amer. Sept., 2. p. 262.; Lodd. Cat,ed. 1836,

Synonymes. B. n&na Suecbrum Bromel. Chi. Goth., 11., Linn. Act Suec., 1735,15. ; B. No. 1629.,Hall. Hist ., 2. p. 300.; B. No. 259., Amm. Ruth., 180.; B. palustris phmila, &c., Cels. Act. Suec.,1732, 3.

Engravings. Am. Acad., 1. t. 1.; Eng. Bot, t. 2326.; FI. Lapp., ed. 2., t. 6. f. 4.; Lightf., t. 25.;Pall. Ross., 1. t. 40. f. D. G. ; FI. Dan., t. 91. ; and our Jig. 1559.

Spec. Char., $c. Leaves orbicular, crenate, reticulated with veins beneath.(Eng. FI., iv. p. 154.) A bushy shrub, seldom exceeding 2 ft. or 3 ft. inheight; with numerous branches, slightly downy when young, and beset withnumerous, little, round, firm, smooth, sharply crenatedleaves, beautifully reticulated with veins, especiallybeneath; and furnished with short footstalks, havinga pair of brown lanceolate stipules at their base. Cat-kins erect, stalked, cylindrical, obtuse; the barren oneslateral, and the fertile ones terminal. Scales of thelatter 3-lobed, 3-flowered, permanent. Stigmas red.

(Smith’s Eng. FL , vol. iv. p. 155.) A native of Lap-land, Sweden, Russia, and Scotland, in Europe ; and ofHudson’s Bay, and other parts of Canada, in America ;on mountains, but almost always in boggy places. Ac-cording to Pallas, it is common in the whole of thenorth of Russia and Siberia ; but not on the moun-tains of Altai or Caucasus. In wet situations, he says,the shoots grow to the length of 6 ft.; and, in a state ofcultivation, they grow as high as 9 ft., and assume an erect form. This shrubis of singular use in the domestic economy of the inhabitants of Lapland .Its branches furnish them with their beds, and their chief fuel; its leaves,with a better yellow dye than that obtained from the common birch ; itsseeds afford nourishment to the ptarmigan, or white partridge (TetraoLagopus L.), which supplies a considerable portion of their food, and alsoforms an important article of commerce; and, for their medicine, it producesthe fungus Polyporus fomentarius Mich., respecting which some details willbe found under the head of Quercus , sect. .Robur, from which the moxa, oramadou, is prepared, and which the Laplanders consider an efficaciousremedy in all painful diseases. Such is the wonderful power of adaptationof man, in a country possessing few natural resources. B. nana has beenin cultivation in Britain since the days of Miller, and is by no means un-frequent in collections. Price of plants, in the London nurseries, is 2s.each; and of seeds, 6 d. per packet. At New York , plants are 25 cents each.

Varieties. ,

m. B. n. 2 stricth. Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836, is somewhat more erect in habithan the species. There are plants at Messrs. Loddiges’s. Pallas men-