[Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 34 BLUE BEECH. HORNBEAM. WATER BEECH. IRON-WOOD. Blue refers to color of bark; the trunk resembles beech; horn refers to horny texture of wood. _Carpinus caroliniana_ Walter. _Carpinus_, classical Latin name; _caroliniana_, named from the state. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best on western slopes of Southern Allegheny Mountains and in southern Arkansas and Texas. [Illustration: Leaf.] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, a small tree, 30'-50' high; diameter, 6"-2'; short, fluted, sinewy trunk; bark, smooth, bluish gray; leaves, falcate, doubly serrate; fruit, small oval nut, enclosed in leaf-like bract. APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, light brown, sap-wood thick, whitish; diffuse-porous; rings, obscure; grain, close; rays, numerous, broad. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Heavy (13th in this list); 45 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr. 0.7286; very strong (9th in this list); very stiff (15th in this list); hard (14th in this list); shrinkage, 6 per cent.; warps and checks badly; not durable; hard to work; splits with great difficulty. COMMON USES: Levers, tool handles. REMARKS: No other wood so good for levers, because of stiffness. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.] [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 35 CANOE BIRCH. WHITE BIRCH. PAPER BIRCH. All names refer to bark. _Betula papyrifera_ Marshall. _Betula_, the classical Latin name; _papyrifera_ refers to paper bearing bark. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best west of Rocky Mountains. [Illustration: Leaf.] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, 60'-80'; diameter, 2'-3'; stem rarely quite straight; bark, smooth, white, exterior marked with lenticels, peeling freely horizontally into thin papery layers, showing brown or orange beneath, contains oil which burns hotly, formerly used by Indians for canoes, very remarkable (see Keeler, page 304); leaves, heart-shaped, irregularly serrate; fruit, pendulous strobiles. APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, brown or reddish, sap-wood white; diffuse-porous; rings, obscure; grain, fairly straight; rays, numerous, obscure. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Weight, medium (33d in this list); 37 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr. 0.5955; very strong (14th in this list); very elastic (2d in this list); medium hard (39th in this list); shrinkage, 6 per cent.; warps, .........; not durable, except bark; easy to work; splits with difficulty, nails well, tough. COMMON USES: Spools, shoe lasts and pegs, turnery, bark for canoes. REMARKS: Forms forests. Sap yields syrup. Bark yields starch. Valuable to woodsmen in many ways. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.] [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 36 RED BIRCH. RIVER BIRCH. Red refers to color of bark; river, prefers river bottoms. _Betula nigra_ Linnaeus.