Carpinus caroliniana

COMMON NAME: American Hornbeam; Ironwood; Musclewood, Blue Beech

FAMILY: Birch Family; Betulaceae

GROWTH HABIT: Small tree (20 - 40 ft.) with distinctive bark.

FOLIAGE: Simple, alternate, deciduous. Oblong to oblong-ovate, 1-5 in. long and 1-2 in. wide. Pale green and glabrous above, lighter and glabrous below. Margins double serrate; bases rounded and unequal to subcordate, tips acuminate. Petioles slender.

BUDS: Small, pointed, angular, with 10-12 scales exposed in 4 rows.

BARK: Smooth, steel-gray, fluted. Close fitting, sinewy, fluted with smooth, rounded, longitudinal ridges.

FLOWERS: In loose, pendulous clusters during April. Monecious,male 1 - 1/2 in. long; female, 2 - 3 in. long; the bracts 3-lobed, 1 - 1 1/2 in. long, the middle lobe the widest (1 in.), toothed.

FRUIT: Each nut-like fruit subtended by a 3-lobed bract.

NATIVE HABITAT: Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas.