Carpinus caroliniana (
American Hornbeam) is a small
hardwoodThe term 'hardwood' is used to describe wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood which...
tree in the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
CarpinusPlants in the genus Carpinus are commonly called Hornbeams. They are relatively small hardwood trees. Many botanists place the hornbeams in the birch family Betulaceae, though some group them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae...
. American Hornbeam is also occasionally known as
blue-beech, ironwood, or
musclewood. It is native to eastern North America, from Minnesota and southern Ontario east to Maine, and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida.
It is a small tree reaching heights of 10-15 m, rarely 20 m, and often has a fluted and crooked trunk.
Carpinus caroliniana (
American Hornbeam) is a small
hardwoodThe term 'hardwood' is used to describe wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood which...
tree in the
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
CarpinusPlants in the genus Carpinus are commonly called Hornbeams. They are relatively small hardwood trees. Many botanists place the hornbeams in the birch family Betulaceae, though some group them with the hazels and hop-hornbeams in a segregate family, Corylaceae...
. American Hornbeam is also occasionally known as
blue-beech, ironwood, or
musclewood. It is native to eastern North America, from Minnesota and southern Ontario east to Maine, and south to eastern Texas and northern Florida.
It is a small tree reaching heights of 10-15 m, rarely 20 m, and often has a fluted and crooked trunk. The bark is smooth and greenish-grey, becoming shallowly fissured in old trees. The leaves are alternate, 3-12 cm long, with prominent veins giving a distinctive corrugated texture, and a serrated margin. The male and female
catkinA catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollinated but sometimes insect pollinated . They contain many, usually unisexual flowers, arranged closely along a central stem which is often drooping...
s appear in spring at the same time as the leaves. The fruit is a small 7-8 mm long nut, partially surrounded by a three- to seven-pointed leafy
involucreInvolucre may refer to* the cupule surrounding developing nuts in the Betulaceae;* involucral bract, a bract or whorl of bracts surrounding a flower or inflorescence....
2-3 cm long; it matures in autumn. The seeds often do not germinate till the spring of the second year after maturating.
There are two
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is 1) a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or 2) a taxonomic unit, a taxon in that rank...
, which intergrade extensively where they meet:
- Carpinus caroliniana subsp. caroliniana. Atlantic coastal plain
The Atlantic Coastal Plain is the flat stretch of land that borders the Atlantic Ocean . It is approximately long, stretching from New York, through the southeast United States and through Mexico, ending with the Yucatán Peninsula. The coastal plains have an average elevation of less than 200...
north to Delaware, and lower Mississippi Valley west to eastern Texas. Leaves mostly smaller, 3-9 cm long, and relatively broader, 3-6 cm broad.
- Carpinus caroliniana subsp. virginiana. Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains , often called the Appalachians, are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians...
and west to Minnesota and south to Arkansas. Leaves mostly larger, 8-12 cm long, and relatively narrower, 3.5-6 cm broad.
It is a shade-loving tree, which prefers moderate
soil fertilitySoil is the characteristics that supports life. The term, soil, is used to describe agriculture and garden life.Fertile soil has the following properties:*It is rich in nutrients necessary for basic plant nutrition, including nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium....
and moisture. It has a shallow, wide-spreading root system. The wood is heavy and hard, and is used for tool handles, longbows and
golf clubGolf club may refer to:*Golf club , a piece of sports equipment*Golf club , an organised group of golfersSee also*Country club...
s. The leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of some
LepidopteraLepidoptera is an order of insects that includes moths and butterflies. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, for example the Io moth (
Automeris io).
Description
Common along the borders of streams and swamps, loves a deep moist soil. Varies from shrub to small tree, and ranges throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.
- Bark: On old trees near the base, furrowed. Young trees and branches smooth, dark bluish gray, sometimes furrowed, light and dark gray. Branchlets at first pale green, changing to reddish brown, ultimately dull gray.
- Wood: Light brown, sapwood nearly white; heavy, hard, close-grained, very strong. Used for levers, handles of tools. Sp. gr., 0.7286; weight 45.41 lbs.
- Winter buds: Ovate, acute, chestnut brown, one-eighth of an inch long. Inner scales enlarge when spring growth begins. No terminal bud is formed.
- Leaves: Alternate, two to four inches long, ovate-oblong, rounded, wedge-shaped, or rarely subcordate and often unequal at base, sharply and doubly serrate, acute or acuminate. They come out of the bud pale bronze green and hairy; when full grown they are dull deep green above, paler beneath; feather-veined, midrib and veins very prominent on under side. In autumn bright red, deep scarlet and orange. Petioles
In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly...
short, slender, hairy. Stipules caducous.
- Flowers: April. Monœcious, apetalous, the staminate naked in pendulous aments. The staminate ament buds are axillary and form in the autumn and during the winter resemble leaf-buds, only twice as large; these aments begin to lengthen very early in the spring, when full grown are about one and one-half inches long. The staminate flower is composed of three to twenty stamens crowded on a hairy torus, adnate to the base of a broadly ovate, acute boot-shaped scale, green below the middle, bright red at apex. The pistillate aments are one-half to three-fourths of an inch long with ovate, acute, hairy, green scales and bright scarlet styles.
- Fruit: Clusters of involucres, hanging from the ends of leafy branches. Each involucre slightly incloses a small oval nut. The involucres are short stalked, usually three-lobed, though one lobe is often wanting; halberd-shaped, coarsely serrate on one margin, or entire.