THE HORNBEAMS 85 



generally became competitors of woods in construction 

 work, hornbeam was the only wood for rake teeth, levers, 

 mallets, and especially for the beams of ox yokes. It out- 

 wore the stoutest oak, the toughest elm. Springiness 

 adapted it for fork handles and the like. Bowls and dishes 

 of hornbeam lasted forever, and would never leak nor 

 crack. *' Iron wood" is the name used wherever the wood 

 was worked. 



American Hornbeam 



Carpi?ius Carolinianum, Walt. 



The American hornbeam has bluish gray bark, very fine 

 in texture, from which the name "blue beech," is common 

 in some localities. "Water beech" points out the tree's 

 preference for rich swamp land. 



The trunk and limbs are strangely swollen, sometimes 

 like a fluted column, oftener irregularly, the swelling 

 under the bark suggesting the muscular development of a 

 gymnast's arm. 



In favorable places the hornbeams grow into regular 

 oval heads, their branches dividing into a multitude of 

 wiry, supple twigs. Crowded under oaks and other forest 

 growth, they crouch and writhe; and their heads flatten 

 into tangled masses of foliage. 



The delicate leaves, strong-ribbed, oval, pointed, turn to 

 red and orange in autumn. (See illustration, page 87.) 

 The paired nutlets are provided with a parachute each, so 

 that the wind can sow them broadcast. This wing is leafy 

 in texture, shaped like a maple leaf, and curved into the 

 shape of a boat. After they have broken apart, the nut- 

 lets hang by threads, tough as hornbeam fibres always are. 



