AMENTIFERZ. Whig 
shorter: the leaves have a still greater resemblance to those of the 
common elm, but they are more plicate, much more sharply doubly 
serrate, smoother, and thinner in texture. The bud-scales are con- 
siderably longer than those of the elm, but shorter than in the beech. 
Hornbeam. 
French, Charme commun. German, Gemeine Hain or Weissbuche. 
The hornbeam, according to Sir E. Smith, is a “a rigid tree of humble erowth,” 
but one which, “ when standing by itself, and allowed to take its natural form, will 
make a much handsomer tree than most people are aware of.” It is very seldom 
allowed to become a timber-tree, and is so patient of the knife that it forms excellent 
hedges, and the few old trunks that remain are generally pollards. It grows freely 
in our woods and thickets, and forms a principal part of large tracts of woodland in 
Essex, in the forests of Epping and Hainault. The old writers of Greece and Rome 
mew this tree, but say little about it; they supposed it to be a kind of maple. Some 
old English writers consider it to be a kind of elm. Gerard calls it Betulus sive 
Carpinus, and says that “it growes great, and very like unto the elme or wich hasell 
tree; having a great body, the wood or timber whereof is better for arrowes and 
shafts, pulleyes for mils, and such like devices, than elme or wich hasell; for in time 
it waxeth so hard that the toughness and hardness of it may be rather compared to 
horn than unto wood, and therefore it was called hornebeam or hard beam, The 
leaves of it are like the elme, saving that they be tenderer; among these hang certain 
triangled things, upon which are found knaps, or little buds of the bignesses of 
criches, in which is contained the fruit or seed. The root is strong and thicke.” ‘he 
wood is so tough and white that it is valuable for making various implements, and at 
one time was especially sought for to make the yokes of cattle; also for mill-cogs, for 
which, according to Evelyn, “it excels either yew or crab.” 
As fuel, the wood of the hornbeam may be placed in the highest rank; it burns like 
a candle, and gives out abundance of heat. Its charcoal is highly esteemed, both for 
fael and in the making of eunpowder. According to Linnzus, the inner bark is used 
for dyeing yellow. The leaves, when dried in the sun, are used in France as fodder. 
Marshall says, “The real excellency of the hornbeam lies in its fitness for screw 
fences for sheltering gardens, nurseries, and young plantations from the severities of 
the winter season. It may be trained to almost any height, and, by keeping it 
trimmed on the sides, it becomes thick of branchlets, and consequently of leaves ; 
which, being by their nature retained on the plant after they wither, a hornbeam 
hedge occasions a degree of shelter nearly equal to that given by a brick wall.” 
Evelyn recommends it to be planted in deer-parks, as he says that deer will not touch 
it, and will not even rub their young horns against it. 
Suz-Orpver II.—BETULINE. 
Leaves alternate, simple, pinnately veined; stipules deciduous. 
Flowers monecious, both the male and female flowers in catkins; 
catkin-scales of the male catkins accompanied by 2 or more floral-scales, 
and covering 3 flowers, each flower in some cases with 4 floral scales 
forming a 4-partite perianth (?): stamens usually 4. Female flowers 
VOL. VII. AA 
