Carpinus caroliniana
Object Details
- Description
- The American hornbeam has two other common names which describe the hardness of its wood and the sinew-like fluting of its trunk and older branches: ironwood and musclewood. The relatively small size of this tree means that its hard wood is not used commercially, but it was used by early pioneers to make bowls, tool handles, yolks, and other objects that would need to withstand abuse. As the name “hornbeam” suggests, its wood would take a horn like polish.
- Hardiness
- -40 - 30 F
- Attracts
- Butterflies
- Bloom Time
- February
- Ethnobotanical Uses
- Used by early Americans to make bowls, tool handles, ox yokes, and other small, hard, wooden objects.
- Provenance
- From a cultivated plant not of known wild origin
- Range
- E Canada to SE USA
- Habitat
- Understory of bottomland mixed-hardwood forests, 0-2200 meters
- Topic
- Trees
- Living Collections
- See more items in
- Smithsonian Gardens Tree Collection
- On Display
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Data Source
- Smithsonian Gardens
- Accession Number
- 2017-0398A
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Common Name
- American Hornbeam
- Iron Wood
- Musclewood
- Blue Beech
- Water Beech
- Group
- [vascular plants]
- Class
- Equisetopsida
- Subclass
- Magnoliidae
- Superorder
- Rosanae
- Order
- Fagales
- Family
- Betulaceae
- Genus
- Carpinus
- Species
- caroliniana
- Life Form
- Deciduous tree
- Average Height
- 20-30'
- Bloom Characteristics
- Male catkins are 1-2.5" long, female catkins are slightly shorter.
- Fall Color
- Orange; red; yellow
- Foliage Characteristics
- Simple, alternate, oblong green leaves with double serrated margins. 1-4" long.
- Fruit Characteristics
- Nutlets surrounded by 3-winged leaf-like bract. Many nutlets hang together in a pendulous chain, and change from green to brown in September-October. Each is .5-1" long.
- Structure
- Oval
- Metadata Usage
- Not determined
- Record ID
- ofeo-sg_2017-0398A
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