Nature Bulletin No. 356-A   November 1, 1969
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE HORNBEAM

A natural hardwood forest or woodland almost always contains a 
mixture of several species of trees, old and young, with an understory 
of shrubs, vines and smaller kinds of trees. They are usually of some 
benefit to various forms of wildlife. In this category, and fairly 
common in the Chicago region, are two members of the Birch family.

One is the Hop Hornbeam or Ironwood. It does well in dense shade 
among oaks on dry clay or gravelly soils but grows very slowly and 
rarely attains a diameter of 15 inches or a height of more than 30 feet. 
In our forest preserves there are many locations where ironwoods grow 
in scattered groups but they usually die, for some reason, when they 
reach a diameter of 8 or 10 inches and we know of only two large 
ones. A hop hornbeam can be identified by its bark, divided into thin 
narrow strips which tend to curl at the loose ends. The very slender 
zigzag twigs are also distinctive. The long-pointed leaves are 
sometimes mistaken for those of an elm but the double-toothed edges 
are much finer.

Like most birches, the male flowers form as short catkins in autumn 
and hang on the tree during winter. In spring they grow to be about 
two inches long. The fruit or nutlet is enclosed in a papery bladder-like 
sac, several of which form in a cone-like cluster on a long stem, like 
hops, and hence the name. Our species ranges from Nova Scotia to 
Manitoba and south to Florida and East Texas.

The seeds furnish important winter food for quail, ruffed grouse and 
ptarmigan. They also are eaten to some extent by songbirds such as 
finches and grosbeaks, as well as by squirrels and white-footed mice. 
Deer browse on the twigs and foliage. In the early days it was used for 
sled runners, levers for prying, wedges or "gluts" for splitting logs, 
mallets, tool handles, and sometimes for bows.

The Blue Beech or Water Beech is not a beech at all. It is also called 
"ironwood" by some but is more properly named the Hornbeam or 
American Hornbeam. There are about 15 related species, all in the 
northern hemisphere, distributed over much of Europe and 
southeastern Asia, but only one in North America. Although it has 
about the same range as the hop hornbeam, and they grow side by side, 
it is usually found on moist soils and along stream banks.

The blue beech also has slender twigs, not quite so zigzag as those of 
its cousin, and the leaves are similar, but the trunk is unmistakable. 
We always tell teachers and children to look for the "muscular" tree. 
The bark is smooth and bluish gray, much like that of the true beech, 
but noticeably fluted -- often resembling the straining muscles of a 
wrestler. The flowers are similar to those of the hop hornbeam but, 
unlike other native members of the Birch Family, the male catkins do 
not appear until spring and are not found on the tree, partially 
developed, in winter. The nutlets are hidden in 3-lobed leafy envelopes 
which are crowded on slender stems from 5 to 6 inches long.  The tree 
furnishes food for about the same kinds of wildlife as does the hop 
hornbeam. Its wood, very hard and heavy was and is used for the same 
purposes in backwoods regions.

In pioneer days it was used for bung starters.