THE blue beech, or American hornbeam, belongs to the birch family rather than to the beeches. It is a small slow-growing bushy tree, 20 to 30 feet tall with a diameter 4 to 8 inches. It is found along streams and in low ground through the State. [Illustration: BLUE BEECH Leaf, one-half natural size. Twig, one-half natural size.] The trunk is smooth fluted with irregular ridges extending up and down the tree. The _bark_ is light brownish-gray to dark bluish-gray in color, sometimes marked with dark bands extending horizontally on the trunk. The _leaves_ are simple, alternate, oval, long-pointed, doubly-toothed along the margin, 2 or 3 inches in length. They resemble those of the American elm, but are smaller and thinner. The _flowers_, appearing after the leaves, are borne in catkins separately on the same tree; the staminate catkins are about 1-1/2 inches long, the pistillate being only 3/4 of an inch long with small leaf-like green scales each bearing 2 pistils with long scarlet styles. The _fruit_ ripens in midsummer, but often remains on the tree long after the leaves have fallen. It is a nutlet about 1/3 of an inch long, attached to a leaf-like halberd-shaped bract which acts as a wing in aiding its distribution by the wind. The _wood_ is tough, close-grained, heavy and strong. It is sometimes selected for use for levers, tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, wedges, etc. Another small tree of the birch family is the speckled alder, _Alnus incana_ Moench, which is found occasionally in wet places in the northern part of the State. The black alder, _Alnus glutinosa_ Gaertn., a European tree, has been planted near ponds. The flowers of the alders are in catkins and among the earliest in the spring. The fruit is a small cone which persists throughout the winter. +HOP HORNBEAM+ _Ostrya virginiana_ K. Koch THIS tree is also called ironwood and gets its common names from the quality of its wood and the hop-like fruit. It is a small, slender, generally round-topped tree, from 22 to 30 feet high and 7 to 10 inches in diameter. The top consists of long, slender branches, commonly drooped toward the ends. It is found throughout the State. [Illustration: HOP HORNBEAM Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf, one-third natural size.] The _bark_ is mostly light brown or reddish-brown, and finely divided into thin scales by which the tree, after a little acquaintance, can be easily recognized. The _leaves_ are simple, alternate, generally oblong with narrowed tips, sharply toothed along the margin, sometimes doubly toothed, from 2 to 3 inches long. The _flowers_ are of two kinds on the same tree; the staminate in drooping catkins which form the previous summer, the pistillate, in erect catkins on the newly formed twigs. The _fruit_, which resembles that of common hop vine, consists of a branch of leafy bracts 1 to 2 inches long containing a number of flattened ribbed nutlets.