Carpinus caroliniana
Carpinus caroliniana subsp. virginiana
American hornbeam
American hornbeam, blue beech, bois de fer, charme de caroline, ironwood, musclewood
gray, smooth to somewhat roughened.
bluish gray, smooth to somewhat roughened.
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 ovate or elliptic to narrowly elliptic, (6–)8–12 × 3.5–6 cm, base narrowly rounded to cordate, margins coarsely and unevenly doubly serrate, teeth sharp and slender, secondary teeth almost as large as primary teeth, apex usually abruptly nearly caudate, but sometimes long, gradually tapered;
surfaces abaxially usually moderately pubescent, especially on major veins, covered with numerous tiny, dark brown glands.
staminate inflorescences 2–6 cm; pistillate inflorescences 1–2.5 cm.
staminate inflorescences 2–6 cm; pistillate inflorescences 1–3 cm.
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.
4.5–12 cm;
bracts 2.5–3.5 × 1.5–2.8 cm, lobes narrowly triangular, sharp-tipped.
whitish, extremely hard, heavy.
buds containing inflorescences squarish in cross section, somewhat divergent, 3–4 mm.
= 16.
Carpinus caroliniana
Carpinus caroliniana subsp. virginiana
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.)
Carpinus caroliniana subsp. virginiana is the familiar hornbeam of the Appalachians and interior forested northeastern North America. The leaves are distinctive in that they bear scattered dark glands on the abaxial surface. This subspecies hybridizes and intergrades with subsp. caroliniana where their ranges overlap in a broad band running from the Carolinas south to northern Georgia and westward to Missouri, Arkansas, and southeastern Oklahoma (J. J. Furlow 1987).
(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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