2006 



ARBORETUM AND PRUTICETUM 



TART III 



to 9 ft. in circumference, even in the largest trees ; it is also generally much 

 thicker at the base than at 1 ft. or 2 ft. from the ground. The head is large, 

 tufted, and consists of a confused mass of branches, among which it is almost 

 impossible to trace the leader. The leaves somewhat resemble those of the 

 elm, but are smoother : they are doubly serrated, pointed, plaited when young, 

 and have numerous parallel, transverse, hairy ribs; their colour is a darkish 

 green, changing to a russet brown in autumn ; and they remain on the tree, 

 like those of the beech, till spring. The buds are rather long and pointed. 

 The flowers appear at the same time as the leaves. The male catkins are loose, 

 scaly, of a yellowish colour, and about 2 in. or 3 in. long; the female catkins 

 are much smaller, and, when young, are covered with close brownish scales, 

 which gradually increase, and form "unequally 3-lobed, sharply serrated, 

 veiny, dry, pale green bracteas, each enveloping an angular nut, scarcely bigger 

 than a grain of barley." (Smith.) These nuts ripen in October, and fall with 

 the capsules. The branches of the hornbeam, says Marshall, "are long, 

 flexible, and crooked ; yet in their general appearance they very much resem- 

 ble those of the beech : indeed, there is so great a likeness between these two 

 trees, especially in the shrubby underwood state, that it would be difficult 

 to distinguish them at a first glance, were it not for that glossy varnish with 

 which the leaves of the beech are strongly marked." (Plant, and Rnr. Orn., 

 vol. ii. p. 51.) The wood is very tough and horny, and the bark smooth and 

 whitish, or light grey spotted with white ; and on old trees it is generally 



