Flora of North America species comparison

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Carpinus caroliniana

American hornbeam
Habit Trees, to 12 m; trunks short, often crooked, longitudinally or transversely fluted, crowns spreading.
Bark

gray, smooth to somewhat roughened.
Leaf

blade ovate to elliptic, 3–12 × 3–6 cm, margins doubly serrate, teeth typically obtuse and evenly arranged, primary teeth often not much longer than secondary;

surfaces abaxially slightly to moderately pubescent, especially on major veins, with or without conspicuous dark glands.
Inflorescences

staminate inflorescences 2–6 cm; pistillate inflorescences 1–2.5 cm.
Infructescences

2.5–12 cm;

bracts relatively uncrowded, 2–3.5 × 1.4–2.8 cm, lobes narrow, elongate, apex nearly acute, obtuse, or rounded, central lobe (1–)2–3 cm.
Wood

whitish, extremely hard, heavy.
Winter

buds containing inflorescences squarish in cross section, somewhat divergent, 3–4 mm.

Carpinus caroliniana
Distribution
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Carpinus caroliniana consists of two rather well-marked geographical races, treated here as subspecies. These hybridize or intergrade in a band extending from Long Island along the Atlantic coast through coastal Virginia and North Carolina, and then westward in northern South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Plants with intermediate features are also found throughout the highlands of Missouri and Arkansas. J. J. Furlow (1987b) has described the variation of this complex in detail.

Native Americans used Carpinus caroliniana medicinally to treat flux, navel yellowness, cloudy urine, Italian itch, consumption, diarrhea, and constipation, as an astringent, a tonic, and a wash, and to facilitate childbirth (D. E. Moerman 1986; no subspecies specified).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaf blade narrowly ovate to oblong-ovate, 3–8.5(–12) cm, apex acute to obtuse; secondary teeth small and blunt; surfaces abaxially without small dark glands.
subsp. caroliniana
1. Leaf blade ovate to elliptic, mostly 8–12 cm, apex usually abruptly narrowing, nearly caudate, sometimes long, gradually tapered, long-acuminate; secondary teeth often almost as large as primary teeth, sharp-tipped; surfaces abaxially covered with tiny, dark brown glands
subsp. virginiana
Source FNA vol. 3, p. 532.
Parent taxa Betulaceae > subfam. Coryloideae > Carpinus
Subordinate taxa
C. caroliniana subsp. caroliniana, C. caroliniana subsp. virginiana
Synonyms C. americana
Name authority Walter: Fl. Carol., 236. (1788)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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