paper birch: see birch.

birch, common name for some members of the Betulaceae, a family of deciduous trees or shrubs bearing male and female flowers on separate plants, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. They are valued for their hardwood lumber and edible fruits and as ornamental trees. The species of Betulaceae native to the United States represent five genera—Alnus (alder), Betula (the birches), Corylus (hazel), and Carpinus (hornbeam) and Ostrya (hop hornbeam), both also called ironwood. The sixth genus, Ostryopsis, is restricted to Mongolia. The birches, beautiful bushes or trees of temperate and arctic regions, are often found mingled with evergreens in northern coniferous forests. Most American species are trees of the Northeast; a few smaller and scrub species grow in the West. The close-grained hardwood of several of the trees is valued for furniture, flooring, and similar uses (in America, particularly that of the yellow birch, B. lutea); stained birch provides much of the so-called mahogany of lower-priced furniture. White-barked birches are often used as ornamental trees, e.g., the famous paper, or canoe, birch (B. papyrifera) of the N United States and Canada. Its bark, which separates in layers, was used by the Native Americans for canoes and baskets. Various birches have yielded sugar, vinegar, a tea from the leaves, and a birch beer from the sap. The sweet, or black, birch (B. lenta) is now the chief source of oil of wintergreen. The Betulaceae is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Fagales.

John Birch Society, ultraconservative, anti-Communist organization in the United States. It was founded in Dec., 1958, by manufacturer Robert Welch and named after John Birch, an American intelligence officer killed by Communists in China (Aug., 1945). The most prominent of the extreme right-wing groups active in the United States, the society was founded to fight subversive Communism within the United States. Its other objectives have included the abolition of the graduated income tax, the repeal of social security legislation, the impeachment of various high government officials, the end to busing for the purpose of school integration, the end to U.S. membership in the United Nations, and the nullification of the treaty that turned over the Panama Canal to Panama. In his book, The Politician, Welch charged to the effect that Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles had actively aided the so-called Communist conspiracy. The society has also contended that an elite international cabal—the U.S. branch of which supposedly includes the Council on Foreign Relations, for many years led by David Rockefeller—is seeking to establish a world tyranny.

Birch, Thomas, 1779-1851, American artist, b. London. Birch settled in Philadelphia in 1793. Famous for his paintings of landscapes and historical scenes, he is also noted for a series of engravings of views of Philadelphia, which he executed with his father. During the War of 1812, Birch painted a series of scenes of naval engagements that includes The Macedonian (1813).

Birch, Samuel, 1813-85, English Egyptologist. He wrote a dictionary of hieroglyphics and translated the Book of the Dead.

Ornamental, shade, and timber tree (Betula papyrifera) of the birch family, native to northern and central North America. Also called canoe birch, silver birch, or white birch, it is one of the best-known birches. The smooth, varicolored or white bark of young trees peels horizontally in thin sheets, which once were used as writing surfaces as well as for roofing, canoes, and shoes. The water-impervious bark, which burns even when wet, is a boon to campers and hikers.

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Any of about 40 species of short-lived ornamental and timber trees and shrubs of the genus Betula, the largest genus of the family Betulaceae, which also contains alders, filberts, Carpinus (hornbeam), and the genera Ostrya and Ostryopsis. Birches are found throughout cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere; other members of the family Betulaceae are found in temperate and subarctic areas of the Northern Hemisphere, in tropical mountains, and in South America through the Andes as far south as Argentina. Leaves are simple, serrate, and alternate; male and female flowers (catkins) are borne on the same plant. The fruit is a small nut or short-winged samara (dry, winged fruit). Birches produce economically important timber. Oil obtained from birch twigs smells and tastes like wintergreen and is used in tanning Russian leather (see tanning).

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Organization founded in 1958 by Robert H. Welch, Jr. (1899–1985), a retired American candymaker, to combat communism and promote ultraconservative causes. It was named for an American missionary and army intelligence officer killed by Chinese communists in 1945, considered by the society the first hero of the Cold War. Its membership reached more than 70,000 in the 1960s. Its many publications warned of communist infiltration of the U.S. government and called for the impeachment of officials such as Earl Warren. The New American is the organization's biweekly magazine.

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