CUPULIFERZ. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 43 
falling. The stipules are ovate-lanceolate, acute, pubescent, hairy on the margins, bright red below, 
and light yellow-green at the apex, a third of an inch long, and caducous. The staminate ament-buds 
are formed in the autumn, and, during the winter, although nearly twice as large, otherwise resemble the 
leaf-buds; the aments begin to lengthen very early in the spring, and when fully grown are about an 
inch and a half long, with broadly ovate acute boat-shaped scales green below the middle and bright 
red at the apex. The pistillate aments are from one half to three quarters of an inch long, with ovate 
acute hairy green scales and bright scarlet styles. The fruit hangs from the ends of leafy branches in 
open clusters on slender terete pubescent red-brown stems five or six inches long; the involucres are 
short-stalked, usually three-lobed, although one of the lateral lobes is often wanting, halberd-shaped, 
coarsely serrate, usually on one margin of the middle lobe, or entire, from one to one and a half inches 
long, and nearly an inch wide across the lateral lobes. The nut, which is only slightly inclosed at the 
base by the involucre, is a third of an inch in length. 
Carpinus Caroliniana, which inhabits the borders of streams and swamps, growing usually in 
deep moist rich soil, is distributed from southern and western Quebec up the valley of the Ottawa 
River to that of the Mattawa, and westward to the northern shores of Georgian Bay,’ southward to 
Cape Malabar and the shores of Tampa Bay in Florida, and westward in the United States to northern 
Minnesota,’ eastern Nebraska* and Kansas, the Indian Territory, and the valley of the Trinity 
River in Texas, reappearing on the mountains of southern Mexico and Central America. A common 
inhabitant of the eastern and central states, except the elevated parts of northern New England and 
New York, the Hornbeam is most abundant and grows to its largest size on the western slopes of the 
southern Alleghany Mountains and in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. 
The wood of Carpinus Caroliniana is heavy, very strong, hard, and close-grained ; it is light 
brown, with thick nearly white sapwood, and contains numerous broad medullary rays. The specific 
gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.7286, a cubic foot weighing 45.41 pounds. It is sometimes 
used for levers, the handles of tools, and other small articles.® 
The graceful habit of the American Hornbeam, its smooth and beautifully fluted stem, its dark 
blue-green foliage, and the splendor of its autumnal tints, make it a desirable ornament for the parks 
and gardens of eastern North America. 
1 Brunet, Cat. Vég. Lig. Can. 51.— Bell, Rep. Geolog. Surv. 5 «The Horne bound tree is a tough kind of Wood, that requires 
Can. 1879-80, 52°. — Macoun, Cat. Can. Pl. 439. so much paines in riving as is almost incredible, being the best for 
2 Macmillan, Metasperme of the Minnesota Valley, 186. to make bolles and dishes, not being subject to cracke or leake.” 
8 Bessey, Rep. Nebraska State Board Agric. 1894, 110. (Wood, New England’s Prospect, pt. i. chap. 5, 15.) 
* Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. iv. 87.— Donnell-Smith, Bot. 
Gazette, xv. 28 (Carpinus Americana, var. tropicalis). 
