Ostrya virginiana
Common name:
Ironwood
American Hop-Hornbeam
Pronunciation:
OS-tri-a ver-jin-e-A-na
Family:
Betulaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Deciduous tree, 25-40 ft (8-12 m) tall, horizontal or drooping branches, rounded outline, pyramidal in youth. Leaves simple, alternate, oval-laceolate, 5-13 cm long, half as wide, acuminate, rounded or heart-shaped, sharply and doubly serrate, dark green above, paler below. Male flowers in catkins grouped in threes, visible throughout the winter, female flowers visible in spring, in elongated clusters, about 2.5 cm long, at the tips of new leafy shoots. Fruit is a flattened nutlet about 5-8 mm long, each enclosed in an pale yellowish inflated sac, the cluster of sacs are about 15 cm long and resemble the flower cluster of hops, hence the common name Hop-Hornbeam.
- Sun or partial shade, best in cool, moist, well-drained, slightly acid soil.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 3b Native from Cape Benton, Ontario to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas.
- Ostrya: from ostrys, the Greek name. virginiana: of Virginia.
- Corvallis: Cloverland Park, west side of tennis courts, 29th St. and Arthur Ave.
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