2008 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART: III. 
among these hang certain triangled things, upon which are found knaps, or little 
buds of the bignesses of ciches, in which is contained the fruit or seed. The 
root is strong and thicke.” He adds, that “it growes plentifully in North- 
amptonshire, and in Kent, by Gravesend ; where it is commonly taken for a 
kinde of elme” (Herball, p. 1479.) : and concludes by saying that he con- 
siders it as a-kind of elm himself; and that it is called, in England, horn- 
beam, hard-beam, or yoke-elm, and in some places, witch-hazel. It was also 
sometimes called horse-beech. “ This tree,” says Parkinson, in his Theatre 
of Plants, “ hath found about as many names as there have been authors that 
have written of it; but, by the judgment of the best, it is the Ostrya of 
Theophrastus, which he describeth so plainly in his 3d booke and 10th chapter, 
that it is a wonder so many learned men as have called it otherwise, should 
not better heede it; but, led by tradition or conceit, have rather taken it to 
be any other thing than what it is. Pliny (lib. iii. c. xxii.) describeth it; but 
maketh it like to Fraxinus, when he should rather have set Fagus; for it no 
way resembleth the ash, but very much the beeche. Tragus taketh it to be 
Ornus; and saith that he cannot agree to Ruellius, who said that Ornus was 
a species of Fraxinus. Matthiolus called it Carpinus. Dodonzus, in his 
Dutch book, maketh it his third kinde of elme, and doubteth if it be not the 
Ulmus sylvestris of Pliny. Lugdunensis giveth us the figure of it for Ulmus 
attinia; but Cordus or Dalechampius, I take it, first tooke it be Ostrya. 
Gesner, in Hortis, calleth it Fagus sepiaria; L’Obel, Betulus; and Clusius, 
Fagulus herbariorum.” (Parkinson’s Theat. Bot., p. 1406.) Parkinson him- 
self calls it Ostrya. The author of An Old Thrift newly revived classes the 
“ hornebeame” among the British timber trees. It ‘doth much,” he adds, 
“resemble the beech tree in qualitie ; and desireth the same kind of ground, 
husbanding, and dressing, as the beech tree doth ; but it is a more firme and 
solide kinde of wood.” (p. 59.) The hornbeam was always a favourite tree 
for forming hedges and labyrinths ; and, as these last appear to have been in- 
troduced at a very early period, it was, doubtless, among the first indigenous 
trees planted for garden purposes. In the Retired Gardener, and in James’s 
Gardening, both of which are translations of French works published during 
the reign of Louis XIV., long details are given on the art of forming groves, 
labyrinths, alcoves, arcades, and “ various other devices” of hornbeam ; of 
which, the author adds, “ Nature, of herself, hath provided enough for us to 
make what compartments we please with it in our gardens.” (Ret. Gard., ii. 
p. 740.) Evelyn speaks quite in raptures of the hornbeam hedges in the 
garden of London and Wise at Brompton; and of “the admirable espa- 
lier hedge in the long middle walk of the Luxembourg Garden at Paris (than 
which nothing is more graceful), planted of this tree; and so is that cradle, 
or close walk, with the perplexed canopy, which lately covered the seat in His 
Majesty’s garden at Hampton Court.” (Hunt. Evel.,i. p. 140.) With the 
decline of the geometric style of planting, the lofty hedges and alleys with 
clipped sides, of hornbeam, fell into disrepute ; and the tree was chiefly used 
to form garden and nursery hedges for shelter and for coppice-wood. In the 
present day, the tree is little used for either of these purposes; beech, or 
some species of evergreen, being found to grow more rapidly as a hedge; and 
undergrowth of hornbeam only being planted in the worst soils. 
Poeiical Allusions. The hornbeam does not appear to have been mentioned 
by Virgil, or any of the other Latin poets. It is also very seldom alluded to 
by any of either the French or English poets of the middle ages. Rapin, in 
his Latin poem, entitled The Gardens, speaks of the use of this tree for laby- 
rinths : — 
** Let beauteous hornbeams one fair part adorn ; 
Another, cypresses with judgment shorn : 
These mazy windings form a wilderness, 
Which hornbeam hedges in trim neatness dress. 
Along the alley sides their boughs expand : 
Like verdant walls the firm espaliers stand ; 
And, while the eyes their various forms delight, 
To private walks and shady bowers invite.” Book ii. 
