Ostrya virginiana aka American Hop Hornbeam

Ostrya virginiana, the eastern or American hop hornbeam, is a deciduous tree in the birch family. People also call it ironwood or leverwood. It grows wild from Nova Scotia and Manitoba south to Florida and Texas, and west to Wyoming. Its range also reaches Mexico and Central America. In the wild it grows beneath taller trees on dry, rocky slopes, bluffs and upland woods.

In gardens it usually reaches 25 to 40 feet (7.5 to 12 m) tall. Its spread is a little narrower, around 25 to 30 feet (7.5 to 9 m). Old trees can reach 50 feet (15 m). Young trees have an oval to pyramidal outline, and older trees become rounded. The slender branches spread and often droop at the tips. Growth is slow. One source reports only 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m) of height in fifteen years.

The bark gives the tree much of its appeal. On young stems it is smooth and reddish brown, with lenticels. With age it turns grayish brown and breaks into narrow vertical strips that lift at the ends. Trunks and main limbs often look fluted or muscular. The alternate leaves are simple and birch-like. They are oval to lance-shaped with doubly serrate edges and grow 2 to 5 inches long. Fall color is a modest yellow, and the leaves often drop early.

Male and female flowers grow in separate catkins on the same tree. Wind carries the pollen. The reddish-brown male catkins form the summer before and hang in threes all winter. Small green female catkins open on new shoots in March or April. Neither is showy. The fruit clusters are more striking. Papery, inflated sacs hang in bunches that look like hops, each holding a small ribbed nutlet. They turn from green to tan and can last into winter.

The tree grows in full sun to fairly deep shade. It prefers cool, moist, fertile, well-drained soil that is slightly acid. It also copes with clay, sand, gravel, alkaline soil and drought once established. It dislikes wet ground, salt and compacted soil. It is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9. Young trees can be slow to settle after transplanting, and nurseries rarely stock it.

Gardeners use it as a lawn, street or shade tree, or in woodland and naturalistic plantings. It needs little pruning and resists storm breakage. Deer browse it only moderately. Songbirds, wild turkeys, quail and small mammals eat the nutlets. It may also host larvae of the red-spotted purple and eastern tiger swallowtail butterflies. The wood is very hard and strong. People have used it for fence posts, tool handles, mallets, sleigh runners and fuel. Native Americans used bark and inner wood for toothache, sore muscles and coughs.

Serious pests and diseases are uncommon. Gypsy moth can cause damage. Two-lined chestnut borer, scale, basswood leafminer and orange-humped mapleworm may also appear. Cankers can kill branches. Leaf blister, leaf spots and powdery mildew are mostly cosmetic. The sources record no edible uses and no known hazards.