Botanical name:                  Carpinus betulus

Family:                                   Corylaceae

Common Name:                   Hornbeam

Habitat and Distribution:

Natural distribution in South East England, Thames Valley and locally South Wales and Somerset. Also throughout temperate Europe and Asia Minor.

Prefers low lying rich soils or clays and is shade tolerant. Can be coppiced or pollarded and is good for hedges.

Description:

A sturdy deciduous tree superficially resembling Beech. Height max 30 metres (100 ft) but more typically13-19 metres (40-60 ft) with roughly an equal width, somewhat pyramidal or oval when young, whereas mature plants are broad and rounded.

The dark green oblong-ovate leaves (6-12 cm long, 2.5-5 cm wide) are heavily textured with very impressed veins and doubly toothed edges. The autumn foliage is yellow to yellow-green and not impressive.

Flowers open in March, male flowers are 3.7 cm. long catkins, and female flowers are smaller emerging from the tips of growing shoots. These are followed by pendulous clusters of fruits surrounded by papery, leaf-like bracts which change from green to brown in September through October.

The bark is an interesting, smooth fluted showy steel-grey colour considered to be ornamental.

Maximum age 150 years, though some parkland trees have lasted 250 years.

Timber:

Extremely hard, dull white, close grained wood. It blunts tools and is difficult to work except in turning.

Occasionally spalted wood is found which is very valuable, spalted wood is from a tree that's suffering from a fungal disease, causing a web of dark lines to spread through the timber. Between the dark lines, the colour of the wood varies from segment to segment

Location within the arboretum:

A pair of specimens is located at the north end of the Furniture Makers Walk.

Furniture Makers Trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

Uses:

Used for turning and sometimes as an inlay, when it is often ebonised (dyed black).

Pieces with interesting, irregular grain are sliced for veneers.

Has been used for cogwheels, butchers chopping blocks, mallets, skittles and some of the moving parts inside pianos

Good firewood and for producing charcoal.

Nuts attractive to birds.

Cultivated in Europe and N. America as a hedge, park or street tree.

July 2005

Bark detail

Leaves

Fruits in late summer

Fruit - autumn

Items turned from spalted hornbeam

Hornbeam veneer