III. 2. THE HOP HORNBEAM. 179 



inflated, sessile sack, half an inch long, terminating in a point, 

 and set at base with numerous, needle-like, stinging hairs, and 

 containing at the base a dark brown nut of nearly the same 

 shape, three or four lines long, free, except at base, where it 

 adheres to the sack. 



The wood of the hop hornbeam is close-grained and com- 

 pact, and remarkably tough and stiff; on account of which 

 properties, it is often used to make levers and is called lever- 

 wood. It is also called iron-wood, from its extreme hardness, 

 and is well adapted to make cogs in mill-wheels. It is suitable 

 for stakes of carts, for binding-poles and for all similar uses. 



This tree seldom grows to a large size. I measured one in 

 Roxbury, near the rail-road, where it occurs abundantly, which 

 was three feet two inches in girth at the ground, two feet six 

 inches at four feet, two feet eight inches at five and one-half 

 feet. On the road leading from Pittsfield to Williamstown, in 

 Lanesborough or beyond, in a field on the right, I measured, in 

 September, 1838, one which had a circumference of five feet 

 and eleven inches at the ground, and another of four feet nine 

 inches. 



In Bristol County, this tree is sometimes called black hazel, 

 and Indian cedar. 



Dr. Richardson found the hop hornbeam in Canada, as far 

 north as Lake Winipeg. Michaux found it in New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia. It occurs in all the New England States ; in 

 New York ; in Pennsylvania ; and in Carolina and Georgia. 



