HORNBEAM (Carpinus betulus), a member of a small genus of trees of the family Betulaceae. The common hornbeam, or yoke-elm, Carpinus betulus, is indigenous in the temperate parts of western Asia and of Asia Minor, and in Europe, where it ranges as high as 55° and 56° N. lat. It is common in woods and hedges in parts of Wales and of the south of England. The trunk is usually flattened, and twisted as though composed of several stems united ; the bark is smooth and light grey ; and the leaves are in two rows, 2 to 3 in. long, elliptic-ovate, doubly toothed, pointed, numerously ribbed, hairy below and opaque, and not glossy as in the beech, have short stalks and when young are plaited. The stipules of the leaves act as protecting scale-leaves to the winter-bud and fall when the bud opens in spring. The flowers appear with the leaves in April and May. The male cat kins are about 1 in. long, and have pale-yellow anthers, bearing tufts of hairs at the apex ; the female attain a length in the fruit ing stage of 2 to 4 in., with bracts 1 to II in. long. The green and angular fruit or "nut" ripens in Oct. ; it is about in. in length, is in shape like a small chestnut, and is enclosed in leafy, 3-lobed bracts. The hornbeam thrives well on stiff, clayey, moist soils, into which its roots penetrate deeply; on chalk or gravel it does not flourish. Raised from seed it may become a tree 4o to as much as 7o ft. in height, greatly resembling the beech, except in its rounder and closer head. It is, however, rarely grown as a timber-tree, its chief employment being for hedges. The wood of the hornbeam is white and close-grained, and polishes ill, is of considerable tenacity and little flexibility, and is extremely tough and hard to work—whence, according to Gerard, the name of the tree. As a fuel it is excellent ; and its charcoal was much esteemed for making gunpowder. In France the leaves serve as fodder. The tree is a favourite with hares and rabbits, and the seedlings are apt to be destroyed by mice.
The American hornbeam, blue or water beech, is Carpinus amer icana; the common hop-hornbeam, a native of the south of Europe, is a member of a closely allied genus, Ostrya vulgaris; the allied American species, 0. virginica, is also known as iron wood from its very hard, tight, close-grained wood.