Native plant: American hornbeam offers shelter to butterflies, food for various animals
Editor's note: Once a month, the OSU Extension Master Gardener's office of Franklin County profiles a plant that occurs naturally in central Ohio.
Nestled in the forests of central Ohio among larger trees, you might find a smaller, less conspicuous tree called Carpinus caroliniana. Also known as American hornbeam, blue beech, musclewood, ironwood and water beech, it is one that is often overlooked, but it is an interesting and beautiful understory tree that deserves consideration for home gardens.
A member of the birch family, one of the American hornbeam’s most distinctive features is its smooth, slate-gray trunk and branches that look as though there are muscles flexing underneath the bark. These ripples are particularly prominent on older parts of the tree. In the spring, both male and female flowers appear, and in the autumn, the simple, alternating green leaves turn beautiful shades of red, orange and even pink. The trees can be single-trunked or multi-trunked and can grow 20 to 35 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet wide.
More: Native plantsGardening: Native plants offer many benefits including providing food for insects, birds
Found as far north as Canada, as far south as Florida, and all the way west to Texas and Minnesota, they make excellent creekside and riverside trees and can even withstand occasional flooding. Although they are most often found in moist, shaded, wooded areas, they are very adaptable and can do well in full sun. Transplanting is best done in the spring, and they especially thrive in sandy or clay loams with high organic matter and regular moisture. They are rather slow growers at an average of one foot per year.
The wood of the American hornbeam is extremely hard and crack-resistant and was harvested by early settlers to make bowls, spoons, tool handles and ox yokes. Because of the small size of the trees, however, they were not conducive to mass commercial production, and today, the wood is primarily used by artisan tool makers.
Carpinus caroliniana is the host plant for the Eastern tiger swallowtail, striped hairstreak, and red-spotted purple. Additionally, the seeds and buds are a food source for songbirds, ruffed grouse, quail, wild turkeys, foxes and squirrels.
Growing requirements
Hardiness zones: 3-9
Sun: shade to sun
Water: prefers to be moist, tolerant of drier sites, but sensitive to drought
Soil: high organic matter, clay, loam, sand
Maintenance: low
Propagation: seeds
Pests and diseases: very few, but leaf spots, cankers, and twig blight are occasional problems
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: American hornbeam trees well-known for distinctive trunks and branches
