60 



Common Trees 



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AMERICAN HORNBEAM 



Carpinus catoliniana, Walter 



The American Hornbeam, also called Ironwood, Blue 

 Beech, and Water Beech, is a small bushy tree usually 

 found along streams and other low places. In appearance it 

 will pass for a little brother of the Beech. 



The leaves are simple, alternate, 2 to 4 inches long, ovate, 

 long-pointed, finely 

 toothed along margin. 



The flowers are of two 

 kinds, both appearing on 

 same tree. The pollen- 

 bearing occur in tassels 

 about \Vi inches long; the 

 seed-producing in few- 

 flowered clusters about 24 

 of an inch. 



The fruit is a small, 

 prominently ribbed nut 

 about one-third of an inch 

 long, enclosed in a leaf- 

 like 3-lobed bract, which 

 is usually toothed on one 

 margin of middle lobe. 

 The seed is attached to a 

 leaflike bract. 



The bark is thin, 

 smooth, bluish-green, and 

 marked with distinctive 

 furrows running up and 

 down along the trunk. 

 The twigs are slender, red- 

 dish to orange, and cov- 

 ered with scattered pale 

 breathing pores. Small 

 buds are about l /s of an 

 inch long, covered with 8 to 12 reddish-brown bud-scales. 



The wood is heavy, hard, and strong. It is sometimes 

 used for levers, tool handles, wedges, and mallets. 



The American Hornbeam is found from Nova Scotia to 

 Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas. It is common 

 across New York, including the Adirondacks up to 2,000 

 feet. It is rare or absent in the coastal plain part of the 

 State. Locally it is common in wet places where it often 

 occurs in dense thickets almost to the exclusion of other trees. 



AMERICAN HORNBEAM 



One-fourth natural sire. 



Twig section and seed with winged bract, 



enlarged. 



