CHAI'. CV. 



C'oryi,a'c:e;1':. o'strya. 

 Genus V. 



2015 



m 



O'STRYA JVilld. 



The Hop Hornbeam. 

 Polyandria. 



Lin. Sj/st. Monoe^cia 



Sytwnymcs. Cz.ry\n\ii Lin. and others ; Hopfenbuche, Ger. 

 Derivation. From ostryos, a scale ; in reference to the scaly catkins. 



Descrijjtion, ^c. Low deciduous trees, natives of North America ; pro- 

 pagated, in British nurseries, by layers, but sometimes by imported seeds. 



I 1. O. vuLGA^Ris Willd. The Hop Hornbeam. 



Identification. Willd. Sp. PI., 4. p. 469. 



Synonymes. Carpinus O'strya Hort. Cliff., 447., Roy Lugdb., 80., Mill. Diet., No. 2., Tht Roy Harhk., 



1. p. 127., Lam. Encyc., 1. p. 700., iV. Du Ham., 2. p. 200. ; O'strya carpinifblia Scop. Cam., No. 



1191. ; O'strya Bauh. Pin., 427., Du Ham. .Arb., 5. ; 0. italica, &c., Mickx. Gen., 223. t. 104. 



f. 1,2. 

 Engravings. Miehx. Gen., t. 104. f. 1, 2. ; Dend. Brit., 1. 143. ; N. Du Ham., 2. t. 59. ; oxirfig. 1939. ; 



and the plate of this tree in our last Volume. 



Sj)ec. Char., ^c. Strobiles ovate, pendulous. Leaves ovate, acute. Buds 

 obtuse. ( Willd.') A tree, from 30 ft. to 40 ft. in height ; a native of Italy 

 and the south of Europe. It was introduced into England before 1724, 

 as it is mentioned in Furber's Nursery Catalogue, published in that year. 

 The hop hornbeam, in its general appearance, 

 bark, branches, and foliage, bears a great re- 

 semblance to the common hornbeam ; but is 

 at once distinguished from it by its catkins of 

 female flowers. These consist of blunt scales, 

 or bracteal appendages, which are close, and 

 regularly imbricated, so as to form a cylindrical 

 strobile, very like the catkin of the female 

 hop ; whereas in the common hornbeam the 

 bracteas are open and spreading. The tree 

 has a very handsome appearance when in fruit ; 

 and, in favourable situations, it will attain 

 nearly as large a size as the common horn- 

 beam. The finest specimen, probably, in Eng- 

 land is in the Botanic Garden at Kew, of which 

 a portrait is given in our last Volume. There 

 are young trees in the Horticultural Society's 

 Garden, and at Messrs. Loddiges's. The hop hornbeam is commonly 

 grafted on the common hornbeam ; but, as the growth of the former is more 

 rapid than that of the latter, unless the graft is made immediately above 

 the collar, the trunk of the scion becomes too large for that of the stock, 

 and the tree is liable to be blown down, or broken over by the wind. 

 Propagating by layers, or by seeds, is therefore a preferable mode. 



Statistics. In ScoUand, at Bargally, was a tree which, in 1780, measured 4 ft. 1 in. in circum- 

 ference, and was 60ft. high. Dr. Walker adds that it was about 60 ft. high, healthy and vigorous, 

 and had ripe seeds on it, in September, when he measured it.l (In France, in the Jardin des Plantes, 

 55 years old, it is 37 ft. high, the girt of the trunk 3 ft., and the diameter of the head 23 ft.; at 

 Sceaux, 10 years planted, it is 20 ft high ; at Colombe, near Metz, 60 years old, it is 40 ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 1 ft. 1 in., and of the head 40 ft. In Germany, in Hanover, in the Gottingen Bo- 

 tanic Garden, 20 years planted, it is 20 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 8 in., and of the head 10 ft. 

 In Cassel, at Wilhelmshoe, 15 years planted, it is 6 ft. high. In Austria, at Vienna, in the Univer- 

 sity Botanic Garden, 18 years old, it is 30 ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 5 in., and that of the 

 head 12 ft. ; in the garden of Baron Loudon, 30 years old, it is 18 ft. high, diameter of the trunk 14 in. 

 and of the head 16 ft. ; at Briick on the Leytha, 60 years old, it is 50 ft. high, the diameter of the 

 trunk 2 ft., and of the head 36 ft. In Italy, in Lombardy, at Monza, 24 years old, it is 30 ft. high, the 

 diameter of the trunk 1 ft., and of the head 24 ft. The price of plants, in the London nurseries, is 'is. 

 each. Seeds are sometimes ripened in the Kew Gardens, and sometimes imported, and are sold at 

 \s. a packet. 



* 2. O. (v.) virgi'nica Willd. The Virginian Hop Hornbeam. 



Identification. WUld. Sp. PI., 4. p. 469. ; Ait Hort Kew., 5. p. 302. 



6 P . 



1939 



