HORNBEAM. 



[38] 



Family: AMENTACEAE [Translator's note: now BETULACEAE]. 



Reproductive system: MONCECY, POLYANDRY. 



The common hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, Linn., is a tree with a trunk twenty- 

 five to thirty feet high in our forests. Its bark is smooth and gray, spotted with white. The 

 leaves are oval, smooth, veined, and unevenly dentate on the margins. The flowers are 

 monoecious. The male ones form pendent cylindrical catkins with sharp concave scales; 

 each scale covers eight to fifteen stamens. The female flowers form loose catkins with 

 sharp, trilobed lanceolate scales enclosing two ovaries crowned by a calyx of four or six 

 sections. The fruit is a monospermous nut, since one compartment fails to develop. 



FLOWERS: in March, April, and May. 



KWf.l- llK l"KM-. "I I I.IIKc .111.1 I UI"|V 



NOMENCLATURE. Carpinus, from two Celtic words meaning wood suitable for 

 making yokes- German, hagebuche. Danish, avenbog. English, the horn beam tree. 

 Spanish, carve. Russian, grab, grabina. Bohemian, habr. Hungarian, gyorttyan-fa. 



The hop hornbeam, Carpinus ostrya [Translator's note: now Ostrya carpi nifolia], 

 is a tree resembling the one above. Its leaves are oval, wrinkled, with sharp uneven teeth 

 on the margins. The flowers are monoecious. The female catkins are cone-shaped, quite 

 similar to the fruit of the hop, and consist of flattened capsules. 



FLOWERS: in May. 



RANGE: Italy; cultivated in France for a long time. 



