Hop Hornbeam (Black Diamond) Traditional Cache

Hop Hornbeam has a very different trunk from American Hornbeam, which is the one I know of as Ironwood, with it’s “muscled” look. Please, remember to BYOP!

This from "Know your trees", at http://bhort.bh.cornell.edu/tree/trees.htm :

26. AMERICAN HOPHORNBEAM

ironwood

Ostrya virginiana (Miller) Koch

American hophornbeam is closely related to the American hornbeam and is rather generally distributed throughout New York State on dry, gravelly, and stony soils of slopes and ridges, sometimes taking possession of woodlots in central New York to the exclusion of other species.

The tree is slow-growing and is rarely found larger than 10 inches in diameter. The wood is very heavy, hard, and strong, hence the name "ironwood." It is used for tool and implement handles and for levers, and makes excellent fuelwood when seasoned.

Bark - thin, very markedly flaky; light grayish brown in color, broken into narrow, flattish pieces, loose at the ends.

Twigs - fine, reddish brown in color, smooth, and shiny; a very easy winter character for identification of the tree, particularly of young saplings.

Winter buds - terminal bud absent as in birches and elms; lateral buds small, light reddish brown in color, bending away from the twig.

Leaves - alternate, simple ovate, 3 to 5 inches long, doubly and finely serrate on margin.

Fruit - a small, seed-like nutlet, enclosed in an inflated, sac-like bract. Bracts - in clusters 1 to 2 inches long, resembling hops, hence the name "hophornbeam." Fruit usually falls before winter.

Distinguishing features - shreddy bark; shiny, reddish-brown twigs; papery fruit like a hop.

American Hornbeam is the one I know of as Ironwood. I remember it well from canoeing the rivers around here.

27. AMERICAN HORNBEAM

blue-beech, ironwood, water beech

Carpinus caroliniana

American hornbeam is a small-sized, bushy tree, found frequently along watercourses and the edges of swamps generally throughout the state. It is rarely more than 6 inches in diameter. The wood is very heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, and is occasionally used for mallets on account of its hardness.

Bark - smooth, thin, dark bluish gray in color, close-fitting, with smooth, rounded lengthwise ridges that resemble tensed muscles.

Twigs - very slender, dark red in color, and shining.

Winter buds - terminal bud absent; lateral buds small, often angled in cross-section, narrowly ovate, pointed, covered with many reddish brown scales.

Leaves - simple, alternate, ovate, 2 to 4 inches long, finely and doubly serrate on margin.

Fruit - a small prominently ribbed nutlet, 1/3 inch long, enclosed in a 3-lobed leaf-like bract. Bracts with their enclosed nutlets are in long, drooping clusters which ripen and fall before winter.

Distinguishing features - "muscles" in bark; fruit a nutlet enclosed in 3-part “dress."

The cache is a tied in, camoed, “micro” pill bottle, with a “push hard to open and close” cap. Please BYOP and put everything back as you found it, came and all.