Page:TheTreesOfGreatBritainAndIreland vol03B.djvu/141

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Carpinus
527

10. Ostrya japonica, Sargent. China, Japan.

Leaves 3 to 4 inches long, velvety to the touch above, slightly cordate at the base. Branchlets with dense, scarcely appressed, pubescence.

11. Ostrya virginica, Willdenow. North America.

Leaves 3 to 4 inches long, not velvety to the touch above, slightly cordate at the base. Branchlets glandular-pubescent. (A.H.)

CARPINUS ORIENTALIS

Carpinus orientalis, Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 7, No. 3 (1759); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 2014 (1838); Winkler, Betulaceæ, 37 (1904).
Carpinus duinensis, Scopoli, Fl. Carniol. ii. 243, t. 60 (1772); Boissier, Fl. Orient. iv. 1177 (1879); Willkomm, Forstliche Flora, 366 (1887).
Carpinus nigra, Moench, Verz. Ausländ. Bäume u. Staud. 19 (1785).

A small tree or large shrub, rarely attaining 50 feet in height; bark smooth and greyish. Young branchlets covered with a very minute dense pubescence, with which are intermixed scattered long hairs. Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 7) small,[1] strongly plicate, the nerves being deeply impressed above, about 1½ inch long by ¾ inch wide, ovate or ovate-elliptical, acute at the apex, unequal and slightly cordate at the base; margin sharply bi-serrate, ciliate; upper surface dark green, shining, with scattered long hairs; lower surface light green, pilose on the midrib and nerves, glabrous between the nerves, with minute axil-tufts; nerves nine to thirteen pairs; petioles, ¼ to ⅜ inch, pilose; stipules linear-lanceolate, pubescent at the apex, ¼ inch long, often persistent during summer. Fruit: strobiles, up to 2 inches long; bracts densely imbricated, ¾ inch long, obliquely ovate, not lobed, sharply and irregularly serrate.

This species is a native of south-eastern Europe and western Asia. It occurs in Italy and Sicily, reaching its northern limit in Istria, Croatia, Slavonia, Banat, and Transylvania, and extending southwards through the Balkan States to Macedonia and Greece. It is also met with in the Crimea, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus.

It was introduced into cultivation in England in 1739 by Miller. It appears to be exceedingly rare, the only specimens we have seen being at Kew, where there are several small trees, one of which, planted in 1878, is now about 20 feet high. (A.H.)

CARPINUS POLYNEURA

Carpinus polyneura, Franchet, Journ. de Bot. xiii. 202 (1 899); Burkill, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxvi. 501 (1899).
Carpinus Turczaninowii, Hance, var. polyneura, Winkler, Betulaceæ, 38, f. 12 (1904).

A small tree, attaining 30 feet in height; bark greyish, slightly fissuring and scaly. Young branchlets with scattered long hairs. Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 5)

  1. In wild specimens the leaves are often larger, 2 to 23 inches in length.