The LEAVES are [simple], [alternate], [oval], long-pointed, doubly toothed along the margin, and 1 to 3 inches long. They resemble those of the black or sweet birch, but are smaller.
The FLOWERS are borne in [catkins] separately on the same tree; the male catkin about 1½ inches long, the female, about ¾ of an inch, with small, leaf-like, three-lobed green [scales]. The [FRUIT] is a [nutlet] about ⅓ inch long. It falls, attached to the leaf-like scale which acts as a wing aiding its distribution by the wind.
The WOOD is tough, close-grained, heavy, and strong. It is sometimes selected for use for levers, tool handles, wooden cogs, mallets, wedges, etc. The tree is of little commercial importance and often occupies space in the woods that should be utilized by more valuable species.
EASTERN HOPHORNBEAM (Ironwood)
Ostrya virginiana (Mill.) K. Koch
The tree gets its common names from the qualities of its wood and the hop-like [fruit]. It is a small, slender, generally round-topped tree, from 20 to 30 feet high and 7 to 10 inches in diameter. The top consists of long slender branches, commonly drooping toward the ends. It is found mostly on rather dry soils throughout the uplands of the eastern part of the state.
The [BARK] is mostly light, gray-brown, or reddish-brown, and finely divided into thin [scales].
EASTERN HOPHORNBEAM (Twig, three-fifths natural size; leaf and [fruit], one-half natural size)
The LEAVES are [simple], [alternate], generally [oblong] with narrow tips, sharply doubly toothed along the margin, and from 2 to 3 inches long.
The FLOWERS are of two kinds on the same tree; the male, in drooping [catkins] which form the previous summer, the female, in erect catkins on the newly formed twigs. The [FRUIT], which resembles that of the common hop vines, consists of a branch of leafy [bracts] 1 to 2 inches long containing a number of flattened ribbed [nutlets].