HOP HORNBEAM; IRON WOOD (Ostrya Virgimana, Willd). 

 *0 to 30 feet; rarely 50 to 60 feet. Slender tree with close, 

 roundish head of wiry branches that droop in tough, flexible 

 twigs of thread-like slimness. Bark gray-brown, furrowed 

 closely into scaly ridges, that break into oblong plates. Shed 

 in strips that spring out at both ends giving the trunk the ap- 

 pearance of a shagbark hickory. Wood red-brown, tough, 

 strong, cross-grained, hard to work, used for mallets, tool 

 handles, and levers. Also for fence-posts. Leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate or ovate acuminate, doubly and sharply serrate, 

 3 to 5 inches long, thin, tough, yellow-green, paler beneath; 

 petioles short, hairy. Flowers with leaves; monoscious, in 

 catkins; staminate in 3's, on ends of twigs; opening early the 

 season after they were formed; pistillate in slender, erect, 

 loose clusters, green, with red, forked stigmas, and perianth of 

 3 united bracts. Fruit a hop-like cluster of papery capsules, 

 each containing a hard, shiny nut. Dist. : Shady woodlands, 

 Nova Scotia to western Dakota; south to Florida and Texas. 



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