Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (21) View all

Common forest trees of North Carolina

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  • FOREST TREES >^p<%&*<= -&-m^^-^ je>-m><z&^ ^-S^p-^-s 4~>m?<3&* BLACK BIRCH (Bctula lenta L.) THE black birch, also known as sweet birch or cherry birch, occurs only in the highlands and mountain sections. It attains its best development in the mountain coves and on rich slopes where it reaches an average height of 70 feet and a diameter of 2 to 3 feet. The tree is moderately slow growing, but is of value for its products and protection to the soil in the high mountains, BLACK BIRCH Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf, one-third natural size. The bark of the trunk is dark brown, almost black, dull and broken into large irregular, but not papery, plates. The small branches and twigs, also dark in color but lustrous and very aromatic, are frequently cut and distilled for the production of birch oil, much used as wintergreen flavoring. The leaves are simple, alternate, oval or approaching oblong, 3 to 4 inches long, finely toothed and dark green, dull on the upper surface. The flowers are of two kinds; the male catkins, usually 3 to 4 on a shoot, forming in the summer and blooming the following spring when the female catkins or "cones" open from the winter buds. The seeds ripen in late summer or autumn and fall with the loosened scales of the "cone." The wood is heavy, very strong, hard and compact. The dark-brown color of the wood has given rise to the common local name of mahogany, or mountain mahogany. It is used for furniture, often being sold as "mahogany," and for flooring and interior trimming; locally it is prized as firewood. 30
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