hypopithys) pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) laurels (Kalmia) trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens) blueberries (Vaccinium). Other names: Corpse plant, ice plant, ghost flower, bird's nest.Ĭlose relatives Pinesap (M. No part of this plant is green waxy-white, translucent stems, scalelike leaves, and a solitary, nodding white or pinkish flower identify it. And because it cannot tolerate salt, winter salting of roads and subsequent soil leaching make this a tree that is seldom seen from a car window. The heartwood of branches was chopped and boiled into a decoction taken internally for kidney pain and, with other ingredients, for coughs and lung ailments.Īlthough this is an attractive tree for yard and park plantings, its deep root makes it hard to transplant. Metals have largely replaced this wood in products for which it was formerly used.Ī comparison of hornbeam fruit clusters: Hop hornbeam (above) produces papery, overlapping seed bracts, while American hornbeam (below) has looser, three-lobed bracts. Once finished, however, these items proved virtually indestructible. Fiendishly difficult to work because of its hardness and strength, the wood required lots of time and uncommon skills.
American pioneers nevertheless found many uses for it: tool handles, rakes, levers, sled runners, wooden dishes, and various items of wagon gear. Lore: Hop hornbeam wood has relatively little commercial value. Yet the seeds and foliage of this tree appear even less commonly in wildlife diets than American hornbeam, perhaps because of this tree's scattered occurrence in habitats where the best food is usually oak or beech mast. The male catkins provide an occasional food source for grouse in the fall and winter. The mustard sallow (Pyreferra hesperidago) feeds on hop hornbeam as a caterpillar and is frequently active as a yellowish adult noctuid moth in fall and even in winter around the tree. Broad, linear mines in leaves may indicate feeding of tiny Nepticula ostryaefoliella larvae, nepticulid moths.įall, winter. Larvae of the casebearer moth Coleophora ostryae make flat, reddish brown cases on leaves and twigs. Fungous and insect associates are generally the same as those found on yellow birch and sugar maple.Ī few moths that specialize on this tree include the eyed and sleeping baileyas (Baileya ophthalmica, B. The bark is rich in tannin.Īssociates: Look for this tree scattered in the understory of oak-hickory forests, also to a lesser extent in beench-maple woodlands. Like Carpinus, however, it is slow growing and its wood is equally hard.
The lumber is moderately durable in contact with soil.
Unlike American hornbeam, Ostrya has a deep taproot (and therefore is not easily tipped over by wind) and is fairly long-lived. The trees do not fruit abundantly every year, however. Conelike clusters, making hop hornbeam impossible to mistake at such a time.
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