Hophornbeam, Eastern

An unusual tree with a trunk that looks like sinewy muscles and a rounded crown of slender, spreading branches. Eastern hop-hornbeam or ironweed is a graceful, understory tree, typically growing 30-50 ft. Conical shape, especially when young, the deciduous tree becomes more rounded at maturity. Loose bark, in narrow, rectilinear strips, covers the often twisting trunk. Catkins appear just before or with the appearance of new leaves. Oval-pointed, mature leaves vary in size and turn a mild yellow in fall. Fruits are borne in a hanging, hop-like structure. Only occasionally does this tree grow as much as 30 feet high, or produce a trunk a foot thick. The slow growth and small size of the species earn it the title “weed” throughout its range.

The LEAVES are alternate, simple, 2 to 4 inches, oblong with narrowed tips and doubly toothed edges. 1-2″ (2.5-5 cm) wide. Ovate or elliptical; sharply doubly saw-toothed; with many nearly straight parallel side veins; short, hairy leafstalks. Dull yellow-green and nearly hairless above, paler and hairy chiefly on veins beneath; turning yellow in autumn.

The Eastern Hophornbeam is monoecious; from I to 3 staminate catkins develop at the end of branches late in the summer that precede pistillate FLOWER development. Pollen forms, matures, and is shed in spring. It is wind disseminated. Solitary pistillate catkins first appear with the beginning of leaf development, and full bloom occurs about a month later. In the southeast, flowering occurs between March 25 and April 16, and in the north, between mid-May and mid-June. The FRUIT form in pendulous clusters 3–8 cm long with 6–20 seeds; each seed is a small nut 2–4 mm long, fully enclosed in a bladder-like involucre.

The BARK is light brown to reddish-brown, finely divided into thin scales that peel away from the trunk, as if shredded by a cat’s claws. The TWIGS are slender, reddish brown, smooth and may be slightly fuzzy; male catkins present on twig ends; buds small, oval and covered with green and red-brown, finely grooved scales

The common name refers to the resemblance of the fruit clusters to hops, an ingredient of beer. The nutlets and buds are eaten by WILDLIFE such as bobwhites, pheasants, grouse, deer, and rabbits. Also called Ironwood, for its extremely hard tough wood, which is used for tool handles, small wooden articles, and fence posts. Planted as an ornamental but slow-growing.