Betula populifolia gray birch Gray birch is notable for its glossy-green, triangular and coarsely-toothed leaves. The bark of the saplings and trees is white, but punctuated with gray chevrons where the branches meet the trunk. It is a short-lived, small, pioneer species that readily colonizes clearings. Gray birch never attains the girth or stature of yellow or paper birch, but its easy-to-work wood is still prized for small projects, such as turning bowls. Birds eat the catkins, seeds, and sap, while hares, porcupines, and beaver eat the bark and twigs. Also called clump birch and has a multi stem habit. The catkins produce the flowers which lack petals. This tree is monoecious.

Pinus strobus eastern white pine

Soft, slender needles in bundles of 5 are characteristic of eastern white pine. Seedlings, saplings, and mature trees produce whorls of branches; the number of whorls present along a bole roughly correlate with the age (in years) of the tree. Many older white pines show two or more leaders, which are stimulated to grow when the central shoot is attacked by the white pine weevil. This widespread and widely planted tree grows quickly on a variety of dry to wet soils. Its soft wood is exceptionally useful for construction. Virgin stands of this long-lived (to 450 years) tree once covered New England and the huge boles were reserved by the King of England for masts and other uses to prevent overharvesting in the young and growing Colonies.

Alnus incana speckled alder. The thin bark of speckled alder is speckled with pores (called lenticels), hence its common name. It often forms very dense thickets around wetlands and streams. The yields of timber-producing trees such as ash, tupelo, and poplar are increased when they grow with speckled alder and can share in the nitrogen fixed by the alders bacterial partner. Beaver often build dams and lodges using speckled alder. The fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe.

Family: Betulaceae This Family’s Genera in New England: Alnus., Betula, Carpinus, Corylus, Ostrya

Corylus cornuta Beaked hazelnut gets its specific epithet (cornuta) from the Latin word for horn, referring to the horny projection on the beaked fruit. In contrast to its cousin, American hazel, beaked hazelnut fruits do not bear red, glandular hairs. The nuts of beaked hazelnut are edible, and provide an important food source for hares, birds, squirrels, and many other animals. The plant is a shrub (i.e., a woody plant with several stems growing from the base)