Ostrya virginiana, the American hophornbeam, is a species of Ostryanative to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia west to southern Manitoba and eastern Wyoming, southeast to northern Florida and southwest to eastern Texas. Populations from Mexico and Central America are also regarded as the same species, although some authors prefer to separate them as a distinct species, Ostrya guatemalensis. Other names include eastern hophornbeam, hardhack, ironwood, and leverwood.
Description
American hophornbeam is a small deciduousunderstorytree growing to tall and trunkdiameter. The bark is brown to gray-brown, with narrow shaggy plates flaking off, while younger twigs and branches are smoother and gray, with small lenticels. Very young twigs are sparsely fuzzy to thickly hairy; the hairs drop off by the next year. The leaves are ovoid-acute, long and broad, pinnatelyveined, with a doubly serrated margin. The upper surface is mostly hairless, while the lower surface is sparsely to moderately fuzzy. The flowers are catkins produced in early spring at the same time as the new leaves appear. The staminate catkins are long, and arranged in groups of 1-4. The pistillate catkins are long, containing 10–30 flowers each. Pollinated female flowers develop into small nutlets long fully enclosed in a papery sac-shaped involucre long and wide. The involucre changes from greenish-white to dull brown as the fruit matures. American hophornbeam is similar to its close relative American hornbeam, which can be distinguished by its smooth bark and nutlets enclosed in open, three-lobed bracts.
Subdivisions
There are two subspecies:
Ostrya virginiana subsp. guatemalensis A.E.Murray – central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador
Ostrya virginiana subsp. virginiana – eastern half of United States, eastern Canada
Populations along the Atlantic coast have slightly smaller leaves, and are sometimes separated as O. virginiana var. lasia Fernald.
Ecology
The buds and catkins are important source of winter food for some birds, notably ruffed grouse. Additionally, the nutlets and buds are eaten by birds, deer, and rabbits.
Uses
It is grown as an ornamental plant and is sometimes used as a street tree. Its wood is very resilient and is valued for making tool handles and fence posts. Being a diffuse porous hardwood and having extremely high density and resistance to compression, it is an excellent material for the construction of wooden longbows.
