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Page 32
_Var. fastigiata_ (Hort.).--In this variety the branches are more
ascending and the habit altogether more erect; indeed, among the
hornbeams this is a counterpart of the fastigiate varieties of the
common oak.
_Var. variegata_, aureo-variegata, albo-variegata
(albo-marmorata).--These names represent forms differing so slightly
from each other, that it is not worth while to notice them separately,
or even to treat them as distinct. In no case that I have seen is the
variegation at all striking, and, except in tree collections,
variegated hornbeams are hardly worth growing.
[Illustration: FULL GROWN HORNBEAM IN WINTER. CARPINUS BETULUS (Full
grown tree at Chiswick, 45 ft. high in 1844).]
_Carpinus orientalis_[2] (the Oriental hornbeam) principally differs
from our native species in its smaller size, the lesser leaves with
downy petioles, and the green, much-lacerated bractlets. It is a
native of the south of Europe, whence it extends to the Caucasus, and
probably also to China; the Carpinus Turczaninovi of Hance scarcely
seems to differ, in any material point at any rate, from western
examples of C. orientalis. According to Loudon, it was introduced to
this country by Philip Miller in 1739, and there is no doubt that it
is far from common even now. It is, however, well worth growing; the
short twiggy branches, densely clothed with dark green leaves, form a
thoroughly efficient screen. The plant bears cutting quite as well as
the common hornbeam, and wherever the latter will grow this will also
succeed. In that very interesting compilation, "Hortus Collinsonianus,"
the following memorandum occurs: "The Eastern hornbeam was raised from
seed sent me from Persia, procured by Dr. Mounsey, physician to the
Czarina. Received it August 2, 1751, and sowed it directly; next year
(1752) the hornbeam came up, which was the original of all in England.
Mr. Gordon soon increased it, and so it came into the gardens of the
curious. At the same time, from the same source, were raised a new
acacia, a quince, and a bermudiana, the former very different from any
in our gardens." This memorandum was probably written from recollection
long afterward, with an error in the dates, and the species was first
entered in the catalogue as follows: "Azad, arbor persica carpinus
folio, Persian hornbeam, raised from seed, anno 1747; not in England
before." It appears, however, from Rand's "Index" that there was a
plant of it in the Chelsea Garden in 1739. The name duinensis was given
by Scopoli, because of his having first found it wild at Duino. As,
however, Miller had previously described it under the name orientalis,
that one is adopted in accordance with the rule of priority, by which
must be decided all such questions in nomenclature.
[Footnote 2: IDENTIFICATION.--Carpinus orientalis. Miller,
"Gardener's Dictionary," ed. 6 1771; La Marck, Dict, i., 107;
Watson, "Dendrologia Britannica," ii., tab. 98; Reich. Ic. fl.
Germ. et Helvet., xxii., fig, 1298; Tenore, "Flora Neapolitana,"
v., 264; Loudon, Arb. et Fruticet. Brit., iii., 2014, Encycl.
Trees and Shrubs, p. 918; Koch, "Dendrologie." zweit, theil zweit,
abtheil, p. 4. C. duinensis, Scopoli, "Flora Carniolica," 2 ed.,
ii., 243, tab. 60; Bertoloni, "Flora Italica," x., 233; Alph. De
Candolle in Prodr., xvi. (ii.), 126.]
_The American Hornbeam_ [3] also known under the names of blue beech,
water beech, and iron wood, although a less tree than our native
species, which it resembles a good deal in size of foliage and general
aspect, is nevertheless a most desirable one for the park or pleasure
ground, on account of the gorgeous tint assumed by the decaying leaves
in autumn. Emerson, in his "Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," pays a
just tribute to this tree from a decorative standpoint. He says: "The
crimson, scarlet, and orange of its autumnal colors, mingling into a
rich purplish red, as seen at a distance, make it rank in splendor
almost with the tupelo and the scarlet oak. It is easily cultivated,
and should have a corner in every collection of trees." It has
pointed, ovate oblong, sharply double serrate, nearly smooth leaves.
The acute bractlets are three-lobed, halberd-shaped, sparingly
cut-toothed on one side. Professor C.S. Sargent, in his catalogue of
the "Forest Trees-of North America," gives the distribution, etc., of
the American hornbeam as follows: "Northern Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick, through the valley of St. Lawrence and Lower Ottawa Rivers,
along the northern shores of Lake Huron to Northern Wisconsin and
Minnesota; south to Florida and Eastern Texas. Wood resembling that of
ostrya (hop hornbeam). At the north generally a shrub or small tree,
but becoming, in the Southern Alleghany Mountains, a tree sometimes 50
feet in height, with a trunk 2 feet to 3 feet in diameter." It will
almost grow in any soil or exposition in this country.
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