Eastern Hophornbeam – Welcome to a photographic journey through the woods, fields and marshes of New England
As a young tree, Eastern Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), also known as Ironwood, due to the hardness and heaviness of its wood, has smooth bark, but as it matures, its bark becomes shaggy, making it easy to identify any time of year. It’s as though tiny rectangular-shaped bits of bark have been carved out, with many of the ends peeling away from the tree. Equally distinctive is its fruit – clusters of papery “bladders,” each containing a seed. You often find these on the ground, as they fall off the tree about when the leaves do.
Find more of my photographs and information similar to that which I post in this blog in my book Naturally Curious, which is now available from www.trafalgarbooks.com or your local bookseller.
EASTERN HOPHORNBEAM
Naturally Curious with Mary Holland 
Another name for hophornbeam is “lever wood.” I learned this from an old timer here in Lyme. It makes good tool handles, particularly axe, canthook, and wood splitter handles. I though my friend referred to it as “liver wood” at first, and I couldn’t figure that out at all.
December 7, 2010 at 1:07 am
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