THE HORNBEAM 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



HE distinctive teatures of the Hornbeam must be sought 

 tor with some care, in the beautiful forms and colouring 

 of branchlets, stipules, and catkins, otherwise we may be 

 tempted to dismiss it summarily as but commonplace, or 

 to apply to it no more interesting epithet than that of a "pretty" tree. 

 The trunk is straight and orten spirally fluted, sometimes it presents 

 the appearance ot a gigantic faggot ot stems, inseparably bound 

 together, crossed, and interwoven by flat sinews ot smooth bark ; the 

 bark itself of so pale a grey that it is sometimes all but white. The 

 boughs take an upward direction, and ramity with much regularity. 

 They are slender and round, and subdivide rapidly into branches with 

 pendent ends bearing a large number of delicate twigs. On the lower 

 branches these twigs grow in flat layers not unlike those on a beech- 

 tree : the habit ot the upper branches bears some resemblance to the 

 Wych Elm, and where two come into contact they very often unite. 

 The outline of the Hornbeam when in leaf lacks the straight lines 

 that give character to most trees. It is the shape which Ruskin 

 aptly calls " an inyerted psar with the stalk downwards." 



THE FLOWER AND SEED. 



Male and temale flowers are found upon the same tree. The 

 males appear betore the leaf-blades open and grow singly from points 



