HOP HORNBEAM
Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf, one-third natural size.
The bark is mostly light brown or reddish-brown, and finely divided into thin scales by which the tree, after a little acquaintance, can be easily recognized.
The leaves are simple, alternate, generally oblong with narrowed tips, sharply toothed along the margin, sometimes doubly toothed, from 2 to 3 inches long.
The flowers are of two kinds on the same tree; the staminate in drooping catkins which form the previous summer, the pistillate, in erect catkins on the newly formed twigs. The fruit, which resembles that of common hop vine, consists of a branch of leafy bracts 1 to 2 inches long containing a number of flattened ribbed nutlets.
The wood is strong, hard, durable, light brown to white, with thick pale sapwood. It is often used for fence posts, handles of tools, mallets and other small articles.
The white birch, Betula papyrifera Marsh., of the North Woods is rare in Illinois. It is found in Jo Daviess and Carroll counties and along the shores of Lake Michigan. The white papery bark distinguishes it from all other trees and was used by the northern Indians for covering their canoes and for making baskets, bags and other useful and ornamental things.
