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Hornbeam
Ostrya virginiana
Family Ostrya
Characteristics:
* Leaves ovate, sharply and finely toothed, 1-4".
* Bark gray, grooved, with narrow, vertical, flaky scales which lift
up from the edges and cling in the middle.
* Tree has a round top and an overall rounded shape. It is almost always
an understory tree, rarely reaching the forest canopy.
* Height: To 30'.
Natural History:
* Habitat: Dry woods at low elevations.
* Range: Eastern Canada and United States.
* Native.
Connections!
* This tree is sometimes called Hop Hornbeam, and sometimes confused
with a similar tree called Ironwood. Both hornbeam and ironwood have
heavy, dense, strong wood. The wood is so hard that it is almost impossible
to drive a nail through it.
* Wood of the hornbeam's European relatives was often employed
as yokes for oxen.
* Look for hornbeam in the oak-hickory forests that cover eastern
Massachusetts, including the woodland northeast of Sage Hall
and in the woods north and west of Lake Waban.
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