Ironwood, and is used for levers and tool handles, the wood being very tough and strong. Michaux states that on the estate of Duhamel du Monceau, in France, there were trees 20 feet high, from which self-sown plants had sprung up.
It was introduced into England by Bishop Compton in 1692, but is rarely met with except in botanic gardens. At Kew there are four trees, 20 to 30 feet in height. Others are growing at Eastnor Castle and at Grayswood, near Haslemere, where, though not planted above twenty years, it is growing vigorously, and looks as if it would make a handsome tree. A tree in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden was, in 1905, 39 feet high by 3 feet 3 inches in girth. Seedlings raised in my garden grow more freely than those of the common hornbeam; but not so fast as those of Ostrya carpinifolia. (H.J.E.)
OSTRYA JAPONICA, Japanese Hop Hornbeam
- Ostrya japonica, Sargent, Garden and Forest, vi. 383, f. 58 (1893), Forest Flora Japan, 66, t. 22 (1894), and Silva N. Amer. ix, 32 (1896); Shirasawa, Icon. Ess. Forest. Japon, text 49, t. 25, ff. 1–14 (1900).
- Ostrya virginica, Maximowicz, Mél. Biol. xi. 317 (1881).
- Ostrya italica, sub-species virginiana, Winkler, Betulaceæ, 22 (1904).
A tree attaining in Japan a height of 80 feet, with a tall straight stem, 5 feet in girth, but usually smaller. This species is considered by Maximowicz and Winkler to be identical with the American species, and there is said to be little or no difference in the fruit, which I have not seen. In cultivation, the Japanese tree is readily distinguished as follows:—Leaves (Plate 201, Fig. 10) velvety to the touch on the upper surface, which is covered with a dense erect pubescence; nerves, ten to twelve pairs, fewer than in the other species; base slightly cordate. Young branchlets densely white pubescent, without glandular hairs, which are also absent from the petiole and midrib of the leaf.
According to Sargent, this species is nowhere abundant in Japan, occurring only as scattered individuals in the forests of deciduous trees which cover Central and Southern Yezo, and growing also in the province of Nambu in Northern Hondo. Shirasawa, however, gives a more extensive distribution, stating that it is found also throughout the central chain of Hondo, in the provinces of Musahi, Kai, and Totomi, and also at Nikko; and farther south, in the island of Shikoku. Ostrya waponica is also a native of China, being an exceedingly rare tree in the mountain forests of Eastern Szechwan and Western Hupeh, where it was discovered by Pére Farges and by myself. Ostrya mandschurica, Budischtschew,[1] recorded from Manchuria, is probably identical with this species.
The Japanese Hop Hornbeam was introduced in 1888 into the Arnold Arboretum by seed sent from Japan by Dr. Mayr, and has proved hardy in the climate of Eastern Massachusetts. There are two trees at Kew, sent by Prof. Sargent in 1897, which are now about 15 feet high and growing vigorously. There is also a healthy young tree at Grayswood, Haslemere.(A.H.)
- ↑ In Trautvetter, Act. Hort. Petrop. ix. 166 (1884). I have seen no specimens of this.
