Oxf. p.284. — Perry’s PI. Var. Selectae, p. 79. — Bab. FI. Bath. p. 46. — Mack. 
Catal. of PI. of Irel. p. 83. FI. Hibern. pt. i. p. 257.— Carpinus vulgaris. Hunt. 
Evel. Svlva, p. 143, with a plate. — Carpinus ulmoides, Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. 
p.245.— Ostrya ulmo similis , f ructu in umbilicis foliaceis, Ray’s Syn. p. 451. 
— Betulus sive Carpitius, Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 1479. 
Localities. — In woods and hedges, on a meagre, damp, tenaceous soil. Not 
common in a wild state. 
A Tree. — Flowers in April and May. 
Rather a small tree, with somewhat the habit of an elm. Leaves 
alternate, stalked, egg-shaped, pointed, doubly serrated, smooth, 
about 2 inches long, beautifully plaited when young, having nu- 
merous, parallel, transverse, hairy ribs. Stipulas oblong, blunt, 
smooth, reddish, deciduous. Barren flowers in drooping catkins, 
yellowish, with egg-shaped scales, which are delicately fringed at 
the margin. Anthers from 8 to 12, each with a tuft of white trans- 
parent hairs at the tip. Fertile flowers in terminal, lax, drooping 
catkins ; or rather bracteated clusters. Styles 2. Scales or Bracteas 
unequally 3-lobed, enlarging as the fruit advances (see fig. 7). Fruit 
an egg-shaped nut, closely enveloped by the angular calyx or 
perianth. 
The Hornbeam is said to be very common in many parts of England. Sir 
J. E. Smith informs us (Engl. FI.) that it makes a principal part of the antient 
forests on the North and East sides of London, as Epping, Finchley, &c. ; and 
that, when standing by itself, and allowed to take its natural form, it makes a 
much more handsome tree than most people are aware of. — Dr. Hunter tells us 
(Evel. Syl.) he has seen some of them in woods, upon a cold stiff clay, that 
have been near 70 feet high, with large, noble, fine stems, perfectly straight and 
sound. A handsome tree of this kind, 45 feet high, is now growing at Chiswick, 
and is beautifully engraved in Mr. Loudon's admirable work, the Arboretum 
Britannicum, t. 243.— The timber is very white, tough, and flexible, harder 
than that of Hawthorn, and capable of supporting a great weight. It is useful 
in turne:y-woik, and for many implements of husbandry, and was formerly 
much used for making yokes to yoke oxen; whence the name Yoke Elm. It 
makes cogs for mill wheels, even superior to Yew. The wood is very inflamma- 
ble, and will burn like a candle, for which purpose it was formerly used. The 
inner bark is used in Scandinavia to dye yellow. Cattle eat the leaves of this 
tree, but pasturage will not flourish in its shade. As underwood it affords 
stakes, edders, and charcoal ; but its superior excellence lies in its fitness for 
skreen-fences for sheltering gardens, nurseries, and young plantations, from the 
severity of the winter season. It may be trained to almost any height, and by 
keeping it trimmed on the sides it becomes thick of branches, and consequently 
thick of leaves, which being by their nature retained upon the plant after they 
wither, a Hornbeam hedge produces a degree of shelter nearly equal to that of 
a brick wall, with the advantage of a better regulated temperature. 
Dr. Hunter says, that the German husbandman has a peculiar mode of 
erecting a fence of Hornbeam ; he plants the young trees in such a manner as 
that every two may be brought to intersect each other in the form ofa St. Andrew’s 
Cross ; in the part where they cross each other, he scrapes off the bark, and binds 
them closely together with straw ; the two plants thus connected form a sort of 
indissoluble knot, and push from thence horizontal slanting shoots, which form 
a living palisado ; so that such a protection may be called a lural foitification. 
These hedges being annually and skilfully pruned, will in a few years become a 
fence impenetrable in every part. It is not uncommon to see high roads in 
Germany thus fenced for miles together. — See Hunt. Evel. Syl. ; With. Arr.; 
and Loud. Arb. Brit., \c. 
