CARPINUS 295 



C. CAROLINIANA, Walter. AMERICAN HORNBEAM. 



(C. americana, Michaux?) 



A small, bushy tree, rarely 40 ft. high, with a short, grey, fluted trunk ; young 

 shoots at first furnished with pale hairs. Leaves oval or ovate, 2 to 4 ins. long ; 

 I to 2 ins. wide ; rounded or heart-shaped at the base, taper-pointed, sharply, 

 and often doubly toothed ; covered with white silky hairs when quite young, 

 becoming sparsely hairy above, downy on the midrib and vein-axils beneath ; 

 stalk to i in. long, downy. Male catkins I to i^ ins. long. Fruiting clusters 

 about 3 ins. long ; the bracts three-lobed, I to i ins. long ; the middle lobe 

 much the largest and nearly I in. wide, toothed (often on one side only). 



Native of Eastern North America ; introduced in 1812. Although very similar 

 in its parts to the European hornbeam it is not so fine a tree, growing more 

 slowly and never attaining to so large a size. Its leaves turn a deeper, more 

 orange yellow, or even scarlet shade in autumn. In winter, the best distinction 

 between the two species is afforded by the buds ; these, in our native horn- 

 beam, are slender and spindle-shaped, \ in. or more long, and like small beech 

 buds, but they are egg-shaped and only ^ in. long in the American one. 



C. CORDATA, Blume. 



A tree 40 ft. high, with a scaly, furrowed bark ; young shoots slightly hairy 

 at first ; terminal winter buds large, $ in. long. Leaves 2^ to 5^ ins. long, 

 i \ to 3 j ins. wide ; taper-pointed, deeply heart-shaped at the base, unequally 

 or doubly toothed ; hairy on the midrib above, more so beneath ; stalk 

 i to | in. long. Male catkins i to 2 ins. long, the scales linear, \ in. long, silky 

 hairy. Fruit catkins 3 to 5 ins. long, \\ ins. wide ; the bracts closely over- 

 lapping, ovate, sparsely and sharply toothed, i to i ins. long, with one side 

 doubled over. The nut is covered partly by this infolded portion, but more 

 completely by a lobe of the bract attached to the base at the other side. 



Native of Japan ; introduced in 1879 by Maries for Messrs Veitch, in whose 

 nursery at Coombe Wood it frequently bears its fruit clusters. This hornbeam, 

 in my experience, grows very slowly, and the finest tree in the country, which is 

 at Tortworth, is only about 20 ft. high. It is very distinct from its ally, 

 C. japonica, in the large, deeply cordate leaves and big winter buds, but is 

 similar in the curious way the nut is protected by basal portions of the bract 

 infolding over it. 



Var. CHINENSIS, FrancJtet Native of E. Szechuen, China ; introduced by 

 Wilson in 1901. It differs from the Japanese type in having smaller, narrower 

 leaves, and in the young shoots being more hairy. 



C. JAPONICA, Blume. JAPANESE HORNBEAM. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 8534 ; Distegocarpus Carpinus, Siebold.*) 



A tree 40 to 50 ft. high, with wide-spreading branches, and scaly, furrowed 

 bark ; young shoots at first clothed with fine hairs. Leaves ovate, or inclined 

 to oblong ; 2 to 4^ ins. long, f to if ins. wide ; long and taper-pointed, mostly 

 heart-shaped at the base, but sometimes rounded or wedge-shaped ; sharply, 

 sometimes double-toothed, but often with a large and a small tooth alternating ; 

 upper surface dark green, and downy only on the midrib, the numerous 

 parallel veins deeply impressed ; lower surface downy on the veins, vein-axils, 

 and midrib ; stalk ^ to \ in. long, downy. Male catkin I to 2 ins. long ; with 

 conspicuous, narrowly ovate, pointed scales in. long. Fruit clusters 2 to 2^ 

 ins. long ; the closely overlapping bracts f to J in. long, coarsely toothed, 



