_A small, slender tree, 30 to 50 feet high. The bark is light, and scales off in thin flakes, and is seldom more than a quarter of an inch thick. Small, acute buds; alternate leaf-scars; delicate twigs. Small catkins, usually three together, pointing upwards. Hop-like fruit, often remaining on the tree through the winter._ There is but one native hop hornbeam in New England, and it is an extremely interesting little tree. It grows under other trees in the forest, and is easily overlooked, usually being mistaken for a young elm. Of all trees the hop hornbeam is the most retiring in its habits, and takes much the same place among trees that the hare does among animals, or the violet among flowers, living a secluded life in wild places, where the woods partially conceal its identity. Its outline against the sky in winter is most delicate and pretty, the twigs are very slender, and are tipped with the three little pointing fingers of the catkins, and the whole tree produces a most pleasing effect. Although the hop hornbeam frequents the woods, it never makes even a small area its own. It is always found mixed with other trees, and I have never seen even a little grove of hop hornbeam trees growing alone. The wood is very strong, hard, heavy, tough, and durable, and is used for fence posts, the handles of tools, and small articles. The generic name, _Ostrya_, comes from the Greek _ostryos_ (a scale), in reference to the scaly catkins of the fruit. _Virginiana_ is the specific name for the North American hop hornbeam as distinguished from the European species, which it closely resembles. The hop hornbeam is found in rich woods from Nova Scotia to Northern Florida, and westward to Eastern Kansas. [Sidenote: Hornbeam; Blue Beech _Carpinus caroliniana_] _A tree or tall shrub 10 to 25 feet high. Bark smooth and dark gray, tough like a horn, and close-fitting. The buds are oval. Delicate twigs, in flat, spreading layers. Alternate leaf-scars. Fruit in clusters,—leaf-like bracts, holding little nuts._ [Illustration: HORNBEAMS _Carpinus caroliniana_ Page 73 ]