32 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



mer, and at all seasons it may be recognized by its peculiar brownish-gray 

 bark checked into long, narrow scales or strips loosely adhering to the 

 trunk. It rarely surpasses 50 ft. (15 m.) in height and 2 ft. (0.60 m.) in 

 diameter of trunk, and is usually much smaller. 



HABITAT. Canada, north-eastern United States and southward along 

 the Alleghanies, westward to Kansas and Indian Territory. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, hard, durable, yery strong and 

 tough (as its name implies), of a dull brownish color with whitish sap- 

 wood. Specific Gravity, 0.8284; Percentage of Ash, 0.50; Relative Ap- 

 proximate Fuel Value, 0.8243; Coefficient of Elasticity, 137276; Modulus 

 of Rupture, 1134; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 542; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 231; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 51.63. 



USES. A valuable timber for axe-helves, tool-handles, levers, fence 

 posts, etc., but not generally found of sufficient size to make it a very 

 important timber of commerce. It is an excellent wood for fuel. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. None are attributed to this species. 



GENUS CARPINUS, L. 



Leaves ovate, straight-veined and serrate. Sterile flowers in loose, drooping cylin- 

 dric catkins; calyx a mere ovate scale or bract, each subtending 8-14 stamens, with 

 very short, mostly 2-forked filaments and 1-celled, slightly hairy tipped anthers. 

 Fertile flowers in loose, terminal catkins, each pair subtended by a small, deciduous 

 bract, and each flower furnished with a persistent involucral bractlet, which remains 

 open, enlarges and becomes foliaceous in fruiting. Fruit an ovoid, furrowed, 

 1-seeded nutlet subtended by the foliaceous bractlet. 



Small trees or shrubs. ('.' Carpinus " is the ancient Latin name of the Hornbeam.) 



42. CARPINUS CAROLINEANA, WALT. 

 HORNBEAM, BLUE BEECH, WATER BEECH, IRON-WOOD. 



Ger., Hairibuche ; Fr., Char me ; Sp., Ojaranzo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves ovate or eliptical, pointed, sharply and unequally 

 serrate, about 3 inches long and half as wide, nearly smooth when mature; leaf -buds 

 slender, acute. Flowers appear in early spring with the leaves, as described for the 

 genus. Fruit a small, dark-brown, 1-seeded, furrowed nutlet subtended by the in- 

 volucral bractlet, which is halberd-shaped, oblique, 3-lobed and cut-toothed on one 

 side. 



A small tree, or often a mere shrub, preferring the borders of streams 

 and swamps, and always recognizable from its smooth, bluish bark 

 very much like that of the Beech and its peculiar sinewy, corrugated 

 or ridged trunk. In summer the terminal light green fruiting catkins, 

 in contrast with the darker green of the foliage, are a conspicuous feature. 

 When growing alone it develops a wide, full top. 



In very exceptional cases it attains the height of 50 ft. (15 m.) and 2 

 ft. (0.60 m.), or slightly more, in thickness of trunk. 



