of New York 



61 



HOP HORNBEAM 



Ostrya virginiana, Miller (K. Koch) 



THE HOP HORNBEAM, also called Ironwood, has appro- 

 priate common names, for its fruit is hop-like and the 

 wood is "hard as iron." It is the only tree native to eastern 

 North America that produces hop-like fruit. An examina- 

 tion of the fruit shows that it is made up of a number of 

 loose papery bags in 

 each of which is 

 found a little brown 

 nutlet. The seed bags 

 are arranged in clus- 

 ters usually from 1 to 

 2 inches long and at- 

 tached to the twig by 

 a hairy stem. 



The leaves are sim- 

 ple, alternate, 3 to 5 

 inches long, ovate, 

 long-pointed, finely 

 toothed along the 

 margin. 



The flowers are of 

 two kinds. Pollen- 

 bearing and seed-pro- 

 ducing occur on the 

 same tree. The for- 

 mer occur in droop- 

 ing tassels about 2 

 inches long, and the 

 latter are produced in 

 erect clusters. During 

 winter the partly de- 

 veloped pollen-bearing flower catkins occur in clusters of 3 or 

 4 at the ends of the twigs. 



The twigs are delicate and interlacing. The thin grayish- 

 brown bark peeling off in narrow, flat scales, and the small 

 reddish-brown buds with four-ranked bud scales are dis- 

 tinctive. 



The Hop Hornbeam is widely distributed over the eastern 

 United States. It is found from Cape Breton Island to 

 Florida and west to Minnesota and Texas. It is found 

 locally throughout New York except in the higher Adiron- 

 dacks, but is rare southward on Long Island and Staten 

 Island. One finds this tree usually by itself. It is rarely 

 over 30 feet high and 12 inches in diameter. 



HOP HORNBEAM 



Twig section and seed with enclosing 



One-fourth natural size. 



membrane enlarged. 



