544 '^^^ Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Ironwood, and is used for levers and tool handles, the wood being very tough and 

 strong. Michaux states that on the estate of Duhamel du Monceau, in France, 

 there were trees 20 feet high, from which self-sown plants had sprung up. 



It was introduced into England by Bishop Compton in 1692, but is rarely 

 met with except in botanic gardens. At Kew there are four trees, 20 to 30 feet in 

 height. Others are growing at Eastnor Castle and at Grayswood, near Haslemere, 

 where, though not planted above twenty years, it is growing vigorously, and looks as 

 if it would make a handsome tree. A tree in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden was, 

 in 1905, 39 feet high by 3 feet 3 inches in girth. Seedlings raised in my garden 

 grow more freely than those of the common hornbeam ; but not so fast as those 

 of Ostrya carpinifolia. (H. J. E.) 



OSTRYA JAPONICA, Japanese Hop Hornbeam 



Ostrya japonica, Sargent, Garden and Forest, vi. 383, f. 58 (1893), Forest Flora Japan, 66, t. 22 

 (1894), and Silva N. Amer. ix. 32 (1896); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text 49, t. 25, 

 ff. 1-14 (1900). 



Ostrya virginica, Maximowicz, Mil. Biol, xi. 317 (1881). 



Ostrya italica, sub-species virginiana, Winkler, Betulacece, 22(1 904). 



A tree attaining in Japan a height of 80 feet, with a tall straight stem, 5 feet in 

 girth, but usually smaller. This species is considered by Maximowicz and Winkler 

 to be identical with the American species, and there is said to be little or no 

 difference in the fruit, which I have not seen. In cultivation, the Japanese tree is 

 readily distinguished as follows : Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 10) velvety to the touch 

 on the upper surface, which is covered with a dense erect pubescence ; nerves, ten 

 to twelve pairs, fewer than in the other species ; base slightly cordate. Young 

 branchlets densely white pubescent, without glandular hairs, which are also absent 

 from the petiole and midrib of the leaf. 



According to Sargent, this species is nowhere abundant in Japan, occurring 

 only as scattered individuals in the forests of deciduous trees which cover Central 

 and Southern Yezo, and growing also in the province of Nambu in Northern Hondo. 

 Shirasawa, however, gives a more extensive distribution, stating that it is found also 

 throughout the central chain of Hondo, in the provinces of Musahi, Kai, and 

 Totomi, and also at Nikko ; and farther south, in the island of Shikoku. Ostrya 

 I'aponica is also a native of China, being an exceedingly rare tree in the mountain 

 forests of Eastern Szechwan and Western Hupeh, where it was discovered by Pere 

 Farges and by myself. Ostrya mandschurica, Budischtschew,^ recorded from 

 Manchuria, is probably identical with this species. 



The Japanese Hop Hornbeam was introduced in 1888 into the Arnold 

 Arboretum by seed sent from Japan by Dr. Mayr, and has proved hardy in the 

 climate of Eastern Massachusetts. There are two trees at Kew, sent by Prof. 

 Sargent in 1897, which are now about 15 feet high and growing vigorously. There 

 is also a healthy young tree at Grayswood, Haslemere. (A. H.) 



lo Trautvetter, Act. Hort. Petrop. ix. 1 66 (1884). I have seen no specimens of this. 



