'JCXKi 



ARBORETUM AND FRUT1CETUM. 



PART III, 



1 934 





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 O? the beech, till spring. The buds are rather long and pointed. 

 The flowers appeal 1 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 

 arc 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 j yet in their general appearance they very much resem- 

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

 tret , < pecially in the shrubby underwood state, that it would be difficult 

 tinguish them at B first glance, were it not for that glossy varnish with 



which toe leaves of the beech are strongly marked." (Plant, and ltur. Om. y 



vol. ii. p. 'j\.) The wood is very tOUfih and horny, and the bark smooth and 

 Ahitish, of lii'ht grey •potted with white; and on old trees it is generally 



