College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources

Plant Database

Ostrya virginiana

American Hophornbeam, Ironwood

Betulaceae

American Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, IronwoodAmerican Hophornbeam, Ironwood
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Habitat

  • eastern United States
  • zone 4
  • naturally occurs as an understory tree in dry woodlands

Habit and Form

  • a small to medium-sized tree
  • reaches 30' to 50' tall
  • overall shape is ovate to pyramidal when young
  • older trees are rounded
  • branching is upright and spreading
  • old trees exhibit more irregular branching

Summer Foliage

  • simple deciduous leaves
  • alternate leaf arrangement
  • leaves are 2" to 5" long and half as wide
  • more or less oval shape to leaves
  • acuminate leaf tip
  • doubly serrate leaf margins
  • medium to dark green leaves

Autumn Foliage

  • yellowish brown to orange
  • not particularly impressive

Flowers

  • male flowers are catkins in 3's
  • not highly ornamental

Fruit

  • small inflated pods in clusters
  • a hard nutlet is inside each pod
  • fruit clusters look like fruit of hops, hence the common name Hophornbeam
  • fruit change from green to tan

Bark

  • forms vertical strips which exfoliate at the ends
  • color is gray brown
  • trunks and main branches develop a fluted or "muscle-like" appearance
  • bark and trunk features are ornamentally attractive

Culture

  • full sun to partial shade
  • best in slightly acid soil that is moist, cool and fertile
  • can tolerate dry gravelly soils in partial shade once established
  • can be difficult to transplant and slow to establish
  • easily transplanted form containers are B&B

Landscape Use

  • lawn tree
  • street tree
  • naturalistic areas
  • for bark and fruit

Liabilities

  • not tolerant of salt at all
  • avoid roadside or seaside uses
  • can be slow growing
  • slow to establish following transplanting
  • hard to find in trade

ID Features

  • veins on leaves branch before reaching the leaf margin
  • hop-like fruit clusters
  • fluted trunk
  • exfoliating vertical strips of bark

Propagation

  • by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

  • none

© Copyright Mark H. Brand, 1997-2015.

The digital materials (images and text) available from the UConn Plant Database are protected by copyright. Public use via the Internet for non-profit and educational purposes is permitted. Use of the materials for profit is prohibited.

Citation and Acknowledgements: University of Connecticut Plant Database, https://plantdatabase.uconn.edu/, Mark H. Brand, Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture, Storrs, CT 06269-4067 USA.