AMENTIFERyE, 177 



shorter: the leaves have a still f^reater resemblance to those of the 

 common elm, but they are more plicate, much more sharply doubly 

 serrate, smoother, and thinner in texture. The bud-scales are con- 

 siderably longer than those of the elm, but shorter than in the beech. 



Hornheam. 



French, Charme comvum. German, Gemelne Hcdn or Weissliuche. 



Tlio liorubeam, according to Sii* E. Smith, is a " a rigid tree of humble growth," 

 but one Avhich, " when standing by itself, and allowed to take its natural form, will 

 make a much handsomer tree than most people are aware of." It is very seldom 

 allowed to become a timber- tree, and is so patient of the knife that it forms excellent 

 hedges, and the few old trunks that remain are generally pollards. It grows freely 

 in our woods and thickets, and forms a principal part of large tracts of woodland in 

 Essex, in the forests of Epping and Hainault. The old writers of Greece and Rome 

 .knew this tree, but say little about it ; they supposed it to be a kind of maple. Some 

 old English writers consider it to be a kind of elm. Gerard calls it JBetuIus sive 

 Garplnus, and says that "it growes great, and very like unto the elme or wich hasell 

 tree ; having a great body, the wood or timber whereof is better for arrowes and 

 shafts, pulleyes for mils, and such like devices, than elme or wich hasell ; for in time 

 it waxeth so hard that the toughness and hardness of it may be rather compared to 

 horn than unto wood, and therefore it was called hornebeam or hard beam. The 

 leaves of it are like the elme, saving that they be tenderer ; among these hang certain 

 triangled things, upon which are found knaps, or little buds of the bignesses of 

 criches, in which is contained the fruit or seed. The root is strong and thicke." The 

 wood is so tough and white that it is valuable for making various hnplements, and at 

 one time was especially sought for to make the yokes of cattle ; also for mill-cogs, for 

 which, according to Evelyn, " it excels either yew or crab." 



As fuel, the wood of the hornbeam may be placed in the highest rank ; it burns like 

 a candle, and gives out abundance of heat. Its charcoal is highly esteemed, both for 

 fuel and in the making of gunpowder. According to Linnaeus, the inner bark is used 

 for dyeing yellow. The leaves, when dried in the sun, are used in France as fodder, 

 Marshall says, " The real excellency of the hornbeam lies in its fitness for screw 

 fences for sheltering gardens, nurseries, and young plantations from the sevei'ities of 

 the winter season. It may be trained to almost any height, and, by keeping it 

 trimmed on the sides, it becomes thick of branchlets, and consequently of leaves ; 

 which, being by their nature retained on the plant after they wither, a hornbeam 

 hedge occasions a degree of shelter nearly equal to that given by a brick wall." 

 Evelyn recommends it to be planted in deer-parks, as he says that deer will not touch 

 it, and will not even rub their yoang horns against it. 



Sub-Order II.— BETULINE/E. 



Leaves alternate, simple, pinnately veined ; stipules deciduous. 

 Flowers monoecious, both the male and female flowers in catkins; 

 catkin-scales of the male catkins accompanied by 2 or more floral-scales, 

 and covering 3 flowers, each flower in some cases with 4 floral scales 

 forming a 4-partite perianth ( ?) : stamens usually 4. Female flowers 



VOL. VIII. A A 



