Tree Description:
A slow growing, small to medium-sized forest tree to 30 feet tall and a trunk 4" to 8" in diameter, with a broad, dense, flat-topped crown and a smooth, blue-gray, fluted trunk that gives it a "muscular" appearance.
Range/Site Description:
Occurs in East Texas, along streams and on moist, fertile soils, usually in the shade of other trees.
Leaf:
Alternate, simple, 2" to 3" long and 1" to 1.5" wide, oval-shaped with a rounded leaf base, doubly-toothed along the margin, and pointed at the tip; dark blue-green above, paler below, turning reddish in the fall.
Flower:
Male and female flowers borne separately on the same tree; the male catkins are greenish, 1" to 1.5" long, and the female catkins at the end of the twigs are 0.5" long, with small, leaf-like, three-lobed green scales.
Fruit:
Fruits form a loose cluster at the ends of the twigs, each one a nutlet about 0.33" long, attached at the base to a three-lobed, leaf-like bract, which acts as a wing to facilitate distribution by the wind.
Bark:
Smooth, tight, thin, dark bluish-gray in color, sometimes marked with dark horizontal bands, and fluted with irregular ridges or "muscles" extending up and down the tree.
Wood:
Tough, close-grained, heavy, and strong. It has been used in the past for levers, tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, and wedges, but has little commercial importance today.
Similar Species:
Eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana var. virginiana) has brown, scaly bark and leaves that are downy-hairy on both sides.
Interesting Facts:
Like eastern hophornbeam, this species has no terminal buds so the new growth starts from a lateral bud each year, resulting in twigs that zig-zag.
