53^ The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



to Florida, extending westward to Northern Minnesota, Eastern Nebraska, Kansas 

 Indian Territory, and Eastern Texas. It is also met with in a slightly modified 

 form' in the mountainous regions of Southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is most 

 abundant and of its largest size in the southern Alleghany mountains and in Southern 

 Arkansas and Texas. 



It was introduced into England by Pursh in 1812; but is very rare in 

 cultivation, the best specimen we have seen being at Arley Castle. It has no claim 

 to be considered as a forest tree, its only merit being the scarlet colour of the foliage 

 in autumn. Elwes gathered seeds of this species near Ottawa in 1904, which did 

 not germinate. (A. H.) 



CARPINUS BETULUS, Common Hornbeam 



Carpinus Betulus, Linnaeus, Sp. PI. 998 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 2004 (1838); 



Willkomm, ForstlicJie Flora, 358 (1887); Mathieu, Flore Forestiere, 396 (1897). 

 Carpinus vulgaris, Miller, Gard. Diet. ed. 8, No. i (1768). 

 Carpinus sepium, Lamarck, Fl. Franf. ii. 212 (1778). 

 Carpinus compressa, Gilbert, Exerc. ii. 399 (1792). 

 Carpinus ulmoides, Gray, Nat. Arrang. Brit. PL ii. 245 (1821). 

 Carpinus carpinizza. Host, Fl. Austr. ii. 626 (1831). 



Carpinus intermedia, Wierzbicki, in Reichenbach, Icon. Fl. Germ. xii. f. 1297 (1850). 

 Carpinus nervata, Dulac, FL Haut. Pyren. 141 (1867). 



A tree, usually attaining only a moderate size, 60 or 70 feet in height and 8 feet 

 in girth; but in England occasionally as large as 90 feet by 12 feet. Stem never 

 perfectly circular in section, being more or less longitudinally fluted or ridged, with 

 shallow rounded depressions between the ridges ; bark smooth, thin, grey. Young 

 branchlets with scattered long hairs, a very minute dense glandular pubescence being 

 also often present. Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 4) about 3 inches long by if inch broad, 

 oval or ovate, acuminate at the apex ; broad, unequal, and rounded or slightly 

 cordate at the base; margin bi-serrate, non-ciliate; upper surface dark green, 

 glabrous, or rarely pilose on the midrib and nerves ; under surface light green, with 

 appressed long hairs on the midrib and nerves and minute axil tufts ; lateral nerves, 

 ten to fifteen pairs, impressed on the upper surface, prominent beneath ; petiole \ to 

 \ inch long, pubescent ; stipules narrow, lanceolate, \ inch long, caducous. 



Male catkins, about \\ inch long ; scales ovate, acute, entire, veined longi- 

 tudinally ; stamens, 4 to 12, with long yellow anthers. Female catkins, nearly i inch 

 long ; scales ovate, acuminate, ciliate. Fruit : strobiles up to 3 inches long ; 

 involucres loosely imbricated, in pairs, with their pedicels connate for the greater 

 part of their length, three-lobed, the lateral lobes small and usually entire, the middle 

 lobe, about i^ inch long, entire or minutely serrulate ; nutlet, \ inch long, seven- to 

 eleven-nerved, glabrous, with the apex umbonate and surrounded by a six-lobed 

 calycine ring, within which are the remains of the style. 



' Var. Iropicalis, Donnell Smith, Bot. Gas, xv. 28 (1890). 



