Trees of New York Slate 157 



BETULAGEAE 



Ostrya virginiaiia (Mill.) K. Koch. 



Hop Hornbeam, Ironwood, Leverwood 



Habit — At. matiu-ity a small tree usually 25-40 feet in height with a short 

 trunk 8-15 inches in diameter, occasionally seventy feet tall. Crown 

 rather high, open, broad, round-topped, consisting of slender branches, the 

 lower wide-spreading and often penduluous with fine, ascending branchlets. 



Leaves — Alternate, borne on slender, terete petioles about V^ of an inch long, 

 ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 8-5 inches long, li/l>-2 inches wide, acu- 

 minate or acute at the apex, rounded or slightly cordate and inequilateral 

 at the base, finely doubly serrate, at maturity thin, coriaceous, smooth 

 and dull yellowish green above, pale green below with tufts of pale hairs 

 in the axils of the veins. 



Flowers — Appearing in April or early May with the leaves, monoecious, 

 borne in aments. Staminate aments, preformed the preceding season, 

 clustered, subterminal, cylindrical, at antliesis reddish brown, pendant, 

 about 2 inches long. Pistillate aments appearing with the leaves, terminal 

 on the growth of the season, pedunculate, lax, pale green, Mi~% of an 

 inch long. The staminate flowers consist of 6-28 yellow half-anthers 

 which are long-hairy at the apex and are raised on short, bifurcated fila- 

 ments inserted on a pilose torus, the group subtended by a broadly ovate, 

 concave scale. The pistillate flowers are borne in pairs at the base of an 

 ovate acute bract which persists until mid-summer, and consist of an 

 ovary closely invested by a hairy sac-like structure formed of a bracteole 

 and 2 secondary bractlets, a short style, and 2 long, filiform, red stigmas. 



Fruit — A long-pedunculate, pendulous, creamy-white, oblong strobile, IVi-^V-i 

 inches long, %-l inch in width, consisting of ovate, acute, membrana- 

 ceous, bladder-like, reticulate-venose, imbricated involucres forming a hop- 

 like fruit. Fruiting involucre about % of an inch long, slightly hairy 

 at the apex, with sharp, stiff, stinging-hairs at the base, enclosing but 

 much larger than the ovate, acute, flattened, chestnut-bro\A7i nutlet, at 

 length deciduous from the strobile axis. 



Winter characters — Twigs slender, tough, pale-lenticellate, smooth, lustrous, 

 dark reddish brown and often zigzag, becoming dull and darker the second 

 year. Terminal bud absent. Lateral buds ovate, acute, slightly puberu- 

 lous, divergent, light chestnut-brown, about % of an inch long. Mature 

 bark light grayish brown, thin, consisting of narrowly oblong, thick scales 

 which are loose at the ends and give a shreddy appearance to the bole. 



Habitat — Dry gravelly and stony soils on slopes, ridges and limestone out- 

 crops, rarely on moist sites. A tolerant species occurring in adniLxture 

 with Beech, Hard Maple, Yellow Birch, White Ash, Elm, etc., seeding 

 abundantly and fonning the bulk of the under-growth m many places. 



Range — Nova Scotia through southeastern Canada to Lake Superior, in the 

 United States from Maine to Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska, 

 southward to the Gulf. Zones B, C, and D. 



Uses — Wood very heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained, light brown, red- 

 dish brown or nearly white, with thick, pale white sapwood. Not durable 

 in contact with the soil. Used for tool handles, mallets, levers, fence 

 ■ posts and for fuel. 



