HORNBEAM 



(Ostrya Virginiana) 



'TAHIS tree belongs to the birch family and is closely related to the 

 A alders and to blue beech. Four species of hornbeam are known 

 in the world, and two of them are in the United States. One is well 

 known to most persons who are familiar with eastern hardwood forests, 

 but the other is seldom seen because of the limited extent of its range. 



The well-known hornbeam is found in the valley of the St. Law- 

 rence river, throughout Nova Scotia and Ottawa, along the northern 

 shore of Lake Huron to northern Minnesota, south through the northern 

 states and along the Alleghany mountains to the Chattahoochee region 

 of western Florida; through eastern Iowa, southeastern Missouri and 

 Arkansas, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and the Trintiy river region 

 of Texas. It is known as ironwood, hop-hornbeam, leverwood, and 

 hardhack. 



The Indians were small users of wood except for fuel, but they had 

 places where they put wood to special uses. They chose hornbeam, 

 when they could get it, for one of these places. It was a favorite ma- 

 terial for the handles of their stone warclubs. The stone heads were 

 chipped to various forms, but were usually egg-shaped with a groove 

 round the middle for fixing the handle. This was made fast with thongs 

 of rawhide, and was generally nearly or quite two feet long, and slender as 

 a golf stick. Great strength and a high degree of elasticity were required 

 to stand the strain when a warrior swung his club in battle. Hornbeam 

 meets these requirements exactly, and doubtless the Indian found this 

 out by experience. It is about thirty per cent stronger than white oak, 

 and forty-six per cent more elastic. The demand for warclub handles 

 made no great inroads on the hornbeam supply, but it affords proof that 

 the Indians sometimes used good judgment. 



The different names of this tree describe some characteristic of the 

 wood or foliage. The fruit resembles hops, hence one of the names. 

 Hardness gives it the other names by which it is known. It is the custom 

 nearly everywhere to call any wood ironwood if it is extra hard. No 

 fewer than eleven species of the United States are known as ironwood in 

 some parts of their ranges. 



The leaves of hornbeam are simple and alternate; they taper to a 

 sharp point at the end, while the base is rounded. They are doubly 

 and sharply serrate. In color they are dark green above, and lighter 

 below, tufted in places, resembling birch leaves in some respects, al- 

 though they are quite different in texture, the leaves of birch being 



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