The Trees of Vermont 93 



BETULACEAE 



American Hop Hornbeam. Leverwood 

 Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch 



Habit. — A small tree usually 20-30 feet high, with a trunk di- 

 ameter of 8-12 inches ; forming a broad, rounded crown of many long, 

 slender branches and a slender, stiff spray. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, 3-5 inches long, about one-half as 

 broad ; oblong-ovate ; sharply doubly serrate ; thin and very tough ; 

 dull, dark green above, paler and more or less pubescent beneath ; 

 petioles short, slender, pubescent. 



Flowers. — May, with the leaves ; monoecious ; the staminate in 

 drooping, cylindrical catkins from wood of the previous season, usually 

 in threes; stamens 3-14, crowded on a hairy torus; the pistillate in 

 erect, lax catkins on the season's shoots, usually in pairs, each flower 

 inclosed in a hairy, sac-like involucre. 



Fruit. — September; strobiles, resembling clusters of hops, 1-2 

 inches long, borne on slender, hairy stems ; nuts small and fiat, inclosed 

 by sac-like involucres. 



Winter-buds. — Terminal but absent ; lateral buds 3^-34 ii^^^^ long, 

 ovoid, acute, red-brown. 



Bark. — ^Twigs at first light green, becoming lustrous, red-brown, 

 and finally dull dark brown ; thin, gray-brown on the trunk, very nar- 

 rowly and longitudinally ridged. Plate III. 



Wood. — Heavy, very strong and hard, tough, close-grained, dur- 

 able, light red-brown, with thick, whitish sapwood. 



Distribution. — Common to both valleys and mountains of Ver- 

 mont, but more abundant in the western and southern portions. 



Habitat. — Rich woods ; open woods ; slopes and ridges. 



Notes. — Hornbeams sometimes are mistaken and transplanted for 

 elms, owing to the general similarity in the appearances of the young 

 trees. The leaves of the hornbeam, however, are nearly symmetrical 

 at the base, while those of the elm are more unequally developed. In 

 late summer the hornbeam is easily distinguished by its fruit hanging 

 in hop-like heads. The hornbeam is distributed, quite generally, both 

 in the valleys and the mountainous parts of Vermont, but is most com- 

 mon in western and southern portions. It is a small tree. The wood 

 is very strong, tough and durable in contact with the soil, hence the 

 names ironwood, leverwood. It is used for levers, mallets and for 

 fencing materials. 



