from a letter of the then owner, J. Mackie, as 60 feet high and 4 feet 1 inch in girth at 4 feet in 1835. Henry could find no trace of this tree when he visited Bargally in 1904. At Glasnevin, Dublin, there are two trees, 30 and 25 feet high, narrowly pyramidal in habit. These are 34 years old and are growing on the bank of a stream. (H.J.E.)
OSTRYA VIRGINICA, Ironwood, American Hop Hornbeam
- Ostrya virginica, Willdenow, Sp. Pl. iv. 469 (1805); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 2015 (1838).
- Ostrya virginiana, Koch, Dendrologie, ii. pt. ii. 6 (1873); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. ix. 34, t. 445 (1896), and Trees N. Amer. 192 (1905).
- Ostrya Ostrya, Macmillan, Metaspermæ Minnesota Valley, 187 (1892).
- Ostrya italica, sub-species virginiana, Winkler, Betulaceæ, 22 (1904).
- Carpinus Ostrya, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 998 (1753) (in part).
- Carpinus virginiana, Miller, Dict. ed. 8, No. 4 (1768).
A tree attaining 60 feet in height and 6 feet in girth, but usually smaller. This species, as seen in cultivation, is mainly distinguished from Ostrya carpinifolia by the presence on the young branchlets, petioles, and midrib of the leaf beneath, of short, erect, gland-tipped hairs. The leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 9) are usually larger, 3½ inches long, slightly cordate at the base, with fewer nerves, about twelve pairs. The nutlet in this species is larger, ¼ to ⅓ inch long, fusiform, flattened, without a tuft of hairs at the apex, surmounted by a plainly visible calyx-limb.
Two forms of this species occur in the wild state, which have been distinguished by Spach,’ as follows :—
Var. glandulosa.—Young branchlets, petioles, and peduncles covered with gland-tipped short bristles. Specimens in the Kew herbarium from Ontario, Niagara Falls, and the Alleghany Mountains belong to this variety, which is the one known in cultivation in England.
Var. eglandulosa.—Glandular bristles not present on any part of the plant. Young shoots pubescent. This variety appears to be common in the western and southern: parts of the United States, and does not appear to have been introduced into cultivation. In the absence of fruit, it would be difficult to distinguish this variety from Ostrya carpinifolia. (A.H.)
The tree grows, according to Sargent, on dry gravelly slopes and ridges, often in the shade of oaks and other large trees ; and is a native of Canada and the United States, occurring on the northern shores of Lake Huron in western Ontario, eastward through the valley of the St. Lawrence to Chaleur Bay and Cape Breton Island ; extending southward to Northern Florida and Eastern Texas, and westward to Northern Minnesota, the Black Hills of Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. It is most abundant and of its largest size in Southern Arkansas and Texas.
I saw it at Mt. Carmel in Illinois, and in the Arnold Arboretum, where it was a finer tree in size and habit than Carpinus caroliniana. It is known in America as
1 Ann. Sc. Nat. sér. 2, xvi. 246 (1841), and Hist. Vég. xi. 218 (1842).
