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150 rigorous climate of Greenland, though there, of course, it is greatly diminished in stature.

The leaf varies slightly in outline from oval with a point to a rhombic form, with a long slender stalk, and the edges are doubly toothed. The silvery-white bark is continually discarding its outermost layer, which peels off in ragged, tissue-paper-like strips, revealing the newer, whiter bark beneath. In this country it is used in tanning, but in the far Northern parts of Europe it is put to a variety of uses. The inflorescence is a catkin, the sexes separate, but borne by the same tree. The flowers of the pendulous male catkin consist each of a single sepal with two stamens, the filaments of which are forked, each branch bearing one anther cell, so that each stamen looks like two. The female spike, which is more erect, and shorter, is composed of three-lobed bracts, each containing two or three flowers. These are simply two-celled ovaries, with two styles and stigmas. The fruit is round, flattened, with a notched broad wing. It flowers in April and May.

The Alder, of which we have but one species, is own cousin to the Birch, but we must not seek it in similar situations. The Birch loves the breezy hillside, the Alder prefers the swampy valley, the pond and river-side, its tastes being more thoroughly aquatic even than those of the Willows. Its bark has some resemblance to that of the Birch, especially when young, but in later life is more rugged, and very dark. The leaves are nearly round, doubly toothed, and with short stalks. When young they are sticky, as are the young shoots. The male catkins are