OF Ohio 



51 



AMERICAN HORNBEAM 



Carpinus caroliniana. 'Walter 



THE American Hornbeam, also called Ironwood, Blue 

 Beech and Water Beech, is a small, bushy tree usually 

 found along streams and other low and wet places. In ap- 

 pearance it will pass for a little brother of the Beech. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, 2 to 4 inches long, ovate, 

 long pointed, finely tooth- 

 ed along margin. 



The flowers arc of two 

 kinds, both appearing on 

 same tree. The pollen- 

 bearing occur in tassels 

 about 1 y2 inches long; the 

 seed-producing in few- 

 flowered clusters about ^ 

 of an inch long. 



The fruit is a small, 

 prominently ribbed nut 

 about one-third of an inch 

 long, enclosed in a leaf- 

 like, 3-lobed bract, which 

 is usually toothed on one 

 margin of middle lobe. 

 The seed is attached to a 

 leaf-like bract. 



The bark is thin, 

 smooth, bluish-green, and 

 marked with distinctive 

 furrows running up 'and 

 down along the trunk. 



The twigs are slender, red- 

 dish to orange, and cov- 

 ered with scattered pale 

 breathing pores. Small 

 buds are about % of an 

 inch long, covered with 8 to 12 reddish-brown bud-scales. 



The wood is heavy, hard and strong. It is sometimes 

 used for levers, tool handles, wedges and mallets. 



The American Hornbeam is found from Nova Scotia 

 to Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas. This tree 

 occurs throughout Ohio, becoming abundant locally. It is 

 of little commercial importance. Locally it often occurs in 

 dense thickets, to the exclusion of other more valuable trees. 



AMERICAN HORNBEAM 



One-fourth natural size. 



Twig section and seed with winged bract, 



enlarged. 



