Carpinus caroliniana
Carpinus
American hornbeam
hornbeam
gray, smooth to somewhat roughened.
of trunk and branches bluish to brownish gray, thin, smooth, close [thicker, broken or shredded];
lenticels generally inconspicuous.
, branchlets, and twigs conspicuously 2-ranked;
young twigs differentiated into long and short shoots.
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.
blade narrowly ovate to ovate, elliptic, or obovate with 10 or more pairs of lateral veins, 3–12 × 3–6 cm, thin, margins doubly serrate to serrulate;
surfaces abaxially glabrous to tomentose, sometimes covered with small glands.
staminate inflorescences 2–6 cm; pistillate inflorescences 1–2.5 cm.
staminate catkins solitary or in small racemose clusters, lateral, formed previous growing season and enclosed [exposed] in buds during winter, expanding with leaves; pistillate catkins distal to staminate on short, leafy new growth, solitary, ± erect, elongate;
bracts and flowers uncrowded.
in catkins 3 per scale, crowded together on pilose receptacle;
stamens 3(–6), short;
filaments often distinct part way to base;
anthers divided into 2 parts, each 1-locular, apex pilose, Pistillate flowers 2 per bract.
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.
loose racemose clusters of paired bracts, clusters pendulous, elongate; paired bracts deciduous with fruit, expanded, (1–)3-lobed, variously toothed, foliaceous, each bract subtending 1 fruit.
small nutlets, deltoid, longitudinally ribbed, often crowned with persistent sepals and styles.
whitish, extremely hard, heavy.
nearly white to light brown, very hard and heavy, texture fine.
buds containing inflorescences squarish in cross section, somewhat divergent, 3–4 mm.
buds sessile, ovoid, 4-angled in cross section, apex acute;
scales many, imbricate, smooth.
= 8.
Carpinus caroliniana
Carpinus
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.)
Species ca. 25 (1 in the flora).
In the flora, Carpinus consists of a single native species, C. caroliniana, which is composed of two fairly distinctive geographic races (J. J. Furlow 1987, 1987b), treated here as subspecies. Worldwide it includes about 25 species, some of which become large trees. The European C. betulus is frequently planted in North America and persists long after other signs of human development have vanished. It seldom escapes, however, and it has not become naturalized. In the mountains of Mexico and Central America, the larger C. tropicalis (Donnell Smith) Lundell is widespread in the temperate forest zone.
Closely related to Ostrya, Carpinus is easily recognized by its smooth, gray, often fluted stems and racemose infructescences consisting of pairs of uncrowded, foliaceous, 3-lobed bracts, each subtending a small triangular nutlet. The staminate (but not the pistillate) catkins develop in the autumn and are enclosed within buds throughout the winter prior to anthesis (in Ostrya, these are exposed during the winter). The pistillate catkins are produced on the first new growth in the spring.
Of relatively minor economic importance, Carpinus has limited use for its very hard wood, especially in Europe, where it is used for making mallet heads, tool handles, levers, and other small, hard, wooden objects.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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 |
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