The Yellow Birch, named _excelsa_ by botanists, from its superior
height, is perhaps the most beautiful of the genus. Its branches are
extremely numerous, long and slender, corresponding with the superior
length of its trunk, and they are prone, like those of the elm, to
equality in size, and to divergency from nearly a common centre. Indeed,
where this tree has grown as an isolated standard, it commonly displays
a very symmetrical head, differing in form from a perfect elm only by
less inclination to droop. The leaves of this species have much of the
same quality which I have remarked as peculiar to the beech, every leaf
standing erect upon its stem. The flexible appearance of the tree is
derived entirely from its slender flowing branches.
The Yellow Birch is very abundant in Maine and New Brunswick, and
formerly constituted the greater part of the wood which was brought into
Massachusetts for fuel. Many of the logs were of immense size before the
primitive forest was removed. At the present day we seldom find one more
than eighteen inches in diameter, though many slender individuals still
occupy our woods. It delights in cold, damp soils, and I have seen the
finest standards near springs on an open hillside. The Yellow Birch
derives its name from the golden hue of the bark that covers the trunk
and larger limbs. This silken bark, which is rolled into multitudes of
soft ringlets, is peculiar to this tree.