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| Our tree of the week is an eastern hop hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), growing mid-slope between Hamilton Hall and the Student Union Building. This tree is at least 10 years old. It is a volunteer that first entered the arboretum catalogue as a 'seedling' in 2012. |
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| This eastern hop hornbeam grows in the shade of a very large, on-site native Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii). |
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| Two additional eastern hop hornbeams grow directly across the sidewalk. By contrast, they are currently growing in full sun conditions. In total, we have three eastern hop hornbeams in this one area. All are volunteers and all currently have fruits. These trees are most likely all descendants of a specimen collected from Cypress Lake in Bossier Parish. That tree was collected and planted in 1989, and died in 2013. |
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| The "hops" drew our attention this week. This is a fruit cluster of the eastern hop hornbeam. |
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| We snipped a branchlet for a photoshoot. Here we see two fruit clusters and the pale undersides of the leaves. |
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| Some fruit clusters are long; some are short. This one is on the longer side, measuring more than 2 inches in length. |
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| Be careful handling these fruit clusters. There are nearly invisible hairs covering the 'hops' that may irritate your skin. For pictures of ripe fruits, see an older blog post, found here. |
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| Hop hornbeam leaves are simple, dark green on the upper surface, egg-shaped, and soft to the touch. This leaf measures 4 inches in length. |
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| Underneath, leaves are pale green. In this photo, we can see the finely serrated margins. |
