The _bark_ provides a ready means of distinguishing this tree. It varies
from reddish-brown to cinnamon-red in color, and peels back in tough
papery layers. These layers persist on the trunk, presenting a very
ragged and quite distinctive appearance. Unlike the bark of our other
birches, the thin papery layers are usually covered with a gray powder.
On older trunks, the bark on the main trunk becomes thick, deeply
furrowed and of a dark reddish-brown color.
The _leaves_ are simple, alternate, 2 to 3 inches long, more or less
oval in shape, with double-toothed edges. The upper surface is dark
green and the lower a pale yellowish-green.
The _flowers_ are in catkins, the two kinds growing on the same tree.
The _fruit_ is cone-shaped about 1 inch long, and densely crowded with
little winged nutlets that ripen from May to June.
The _wood_ is strong and fairly close-grained. It has been used to some
extent in the manufacture of woodenware, in turnery and for wagon hubs.
The yellow birch, _Betula lutea_ Michx., one of the most valuable
hardwood timber trees around the Great Lakes, is represented in
Illinois by a few small trees in Lee and Lake counties. It may be
known by its bark becoming silvery-gray as the trunk expands and
breaking into strips curled at the edges. The wood is strong and hard,
close-grained, light brown tinged with red. It is used for interior
finish, furniture, woodenware and turnery. It is prized as firewood.
+BEECH+ _Fagus grandifolia_ Ehrh.
THE beech is found from Maine to Wisconsin south to the Gulf and Texas,
growing along with maples, oaks and tulip trees. It occurs in the
ravines of the southern Illinois counties up to Vermilion County. It is
one of the most beautiful of all trees either in summer or winter.
[Illustration: BEECH