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HORNBEAM 



(Carpinus caruliniana Walt.) 

 THE hornbeam, also known as ironwood, blue beech 

 and occasionally as water beech, is a small, slow- 

 growing, bushy tree with a spreading top of slender, 

 crooked, or drooping branches. It is found along 

 streams and in low ground throughout the State. 

 Its height is usually from 20 to 30 feet and its 

 diameter 4 to 8 inches, although it sometimes grows 

 larger. 



The trunk is fluted with irregular ridges extend- 



HORNBEAM 



Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf, one-thirci natural size, 



Twig, one-half natural size. 



ing up and down the tree. The bark is light brown- 

 ish gray to dark bluish gray in color, sometimes 

 marked with dark bands extending horizontally on 

 the trunk. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, oval, long-point- 

 ed, doubly toothed along the margin, 2 or 3 inches 

 in length. They resemble those of the black or sweet 

 birch, but are smaller. 



The flowers are borne in catkins separately on the 

 same tree ; the male catkin about IMi inches long, 

 the female about three-fourths of an inch, with small, 

 leaf-like, 3-lobed green scales. The fruit is a nutlet 

 about one-third of an inch long. It falls, attached 

 to the leaf-like scale which acts as a wing in aiding 

 its distribution by the wind. 



The wood is tough, close-grained, heavy and 

 strong. It is sometimes selected for use for levers, 

 tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, wedges, etc. The 

 tree is of little commercial importance and often 

 occupies space in the woods that should be utilized 

 by more valuable kinds. 



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