Hop Hornbeam

I finally got everything mowed. Of course, the first places mowed need it again, but overall there is an aura of neatness. One of the advantages of mowing is that I get to inspect everything from the back of the tractor. I noticed that this year is going to be a good one for fruit on the Eastern Hop Hornbeam. It is one of my favorite small trees. A member of the birch family, it is second only to the dogwood in hardness of wood. That extremely hard wood is why it is also called ironwood. Only dogwood among native trees has harder wood. Historically, hornbeam was an important wood for all parts of wooden wagons. It was of great value for moving parts because it resists abrasion. One of the earliest uses for the wood was in the making of tools. Not only was it a wood of choice for handles, but the uncommon strength made it the useful for the tines of wooden rakes and wedges used when harvesting timber. An old name for the tree, no longer in use, is lever wood. The hardness of the wood made it the limb of choice when leverage was needed.

When we first moved to Kalorama there was an old hornbeam tree leaning over out of the woods along the driveway. Over the years, it reached the point that it was horizontal with the ground. Eventually the old tree died, leaving a slick trunk after the bark fell away. It dried and cured suspended there in the air. Curiously the woodpeckers never bothered it. I suspect the fact that it was horizontal didn’t appeal to them. A year ago a water oak tree fell over on it in a storm. Terry and I noticed what fine shape the cured log was in when we were removing the debris. We took some pieces to our friend, Al Duncan, a master wood craftsman. He crafted two beautiful thumb stick style walking sticks and presented them to us. In doing so, he created a demand for them when others saw him working on them.

The fruit of hop hornbeam resembles that of the vine that produce hops which is used as flavoring for beer. An interesting side note about the hops vine used in beer production is that it is in the hemp family of which marijuana is a member.
The hornbeam seed is encased in the individual pouches. The clusters of fruit persist until fall, turning brown as they ripen. They provide a nice contrast to the deep green leaves in late summer.