HORNBEAM, HAZEL, BIRCH AND ALDER 107 



During the OKgocene, Miocene and Pliocene, species of hazel 

 continue to be abundant on the northern continents, but they 

 had retreated from the far North and their range is essentially 

 comparable to that of the existing forms. During the Pleistocene 

 the distribution of the common European hazel {Corylus avellana) 

 furnishes a valuable commentary on the shifting ice sheets and the 

 probable climates of the interglacial times. The remains of this 

 hazel in several varieties are especially common in the deposits of 

 the third interglacial period in northern Europe, and equally 

 common immediately after shrinking of the last ice sheet. Thus 

 of 224 stations where fossil nuts have been found in Sweden, 219 

 of these are north of the present range, emphatically proving that 

 the chmate has become somewhat more severe in the last few 

 thousand years. An extinct Pleistocene hazel has been described 

 from the Island of Madeira, and the common American hazel has 

 been found in cave deposits in Pennsylvania associated with Pleis- 

 tocene mammalian bones. 



THE HORNBEAM 



Carpinus was the classical name of the hornbeam, French charme. 

 Pliny described it and classed it with the maples. The name is 

 said to have been derived from the Celtic car wood, and pin or 

 pen head, from the early practise of using the wood in making 

 yokes for cattle, in fact the common European hornbeam is often 

 called yoke elm. 



The latter, which has been much used as an ornamental tree in 

 the northeastern United States, grows naturally in temperate 

 western Asia, Asia Minor, and in Europe northward to latitude 

 55°. In southern England it is frequently used for hedges and 

 geometrical planting, since it stands clipping well, as testified to by 

 Evelyn, who states: "In the single row it makes the noblest and 

 stateliest hedges for Long Walks in Gardens or Parks, of any tree 

 whatsoever whose leaves are deciduous." The wood is close 

 grained, tough, and hard to work, hence according to Gerard, its 

 name hornbeam. It is a common tree in France where the leaves 



