Virginian hop beech

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Virginian hop beech
Virginian hop beech in the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden

Virginian hop beech in the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden

Systematics
Eurosiden I
Order : Beech-like (Fagales)
Family : Birch family (Betulaceae)
Subfamily : Hazelnut family (Coryloideae)
Genre : Hop beech ( Ostrya )
Type : Virginian hop beech
Scientific name
Ostrya virginiana
( Mill. ) K. Koch
Male kittens
Leaves and immature fruit cluster
Ripe fruit cluster

The Virginian hop beech , American hop beech , also hop house ( Ostrya virginiana ) is a medium-sized tree from the subfamily of the hazelnut family ( Coryloideae ).

description

Vegetative characteristics

The Virginian hop beech is a monoecious and short-stemmed tree up to 18 meters high with an open or narrow to broadly rounded crown. The bark is gray-brown, thin and torn in vertical stripes. The branches are sparsely to densely hairy, sticking out long and overhanging at the tips.

The leaves have a 4 to 8 millimeter long, hairy to bald, but not glandular hairy stalk. The leaf blade is rarely from 5, usually from 8 to 10, rarely also up to 13 centimeters long and 4 to 5 sometimes up to 6 centimeters wide, narrow-ovoid or elliptical to elongated-lanceolate, usually suddenly pointed, less often pointed or tapering, with narrowly rounded to heart-shaped or wedge-shaped base and irregularly double-sawn leaf margin. Nine to twelve pairs of nerves are formed. Both sides are softly hairy. The upper side of the leaf is dark green, the underside lighter and more densely hairy, especially along the main veins.

Generative characteristics

The male inflorescences are 2 to 5 centimeters long catkins usually individually or up to four together, the female inflorescences are single, 0.8 to 1.5 centimeters long, about 2 cm long stalked, catkins with 10 to 30 flowers.

The cone-like, hop-like fruit stands, hence the common name , are 3.5 to 6.5 centimeters long and have a diameter of 2.0 to 2.5 centimeters. They consist of several individual, elliptical to egg-shaped, prickly-pointed, flat bracts which are 1.0 to 1.8 inches long and 0.8 to 1.0 inches wide. The bracts are initially light green, later light brown and dry, paper-like, they envelop bag-like, winged (wing fruit, ptero meteorochory ) each about 7 millimeters long and 4 millimeters wide, initially yellowish-green, later brown, egg-shaped nut. The shell has a paper tegmen (inside of the seed shell or testa).

The Virginian hop beech blooms in late spring from April to May. The manhood is 25 years.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16.

Occurrence and location requirements

The natural range of the species is in eastern Canada , in the east and the middle of the United States and extends to Mexico, El Salvador , Guatemala and Honduras . The Virginian hop beech grows in hilly landscapes, on dry mountain slopes and ridges, sometimes also on well-drained floodplains at heights of up to 1350 meters, mostly on moderately dry to fresh, slightly acidic to alkaline, sandy-loamy to loamy, nutrient-rich soils in sunny to shady locations. The species loves warmth and is usually frost hardy . They are often found in association with the American white oak ( Quercus alba ), the sugar maple ( Acer saccharum ) and the American beech ( Fagus grandifolia ).

Distribution area (1938)

Systematics

The Virginian hop beech ( Ostrya virginiana ) is a species from the genus of the hop beech ( Ostrya ). This is in the family of birch plants of the subfamily (Betulaceae) coryloideae assigned (Coryloideae). The species was first scientifically described by Philip Miller as Carpinus virginiana ( Basionym ) in 1768 and assigned to the genus of hornbeams ( Carpinus ). Karl Heinrich Koch placed the species in the hop beech genus ( Ostrya ) in 1873 . The generic name Ostrya comes from Latin and was already used by the Romans for the hop beech. The specific epithet virginiana refers to the distribution area in Virginia .

One can distinguish between two subspecies:

  • Ostrya virginiana subsp. guatemalensis (HJPWinkl.) AEMurray : It occurs from Mexico to Honduras . Some authors also regard it as a separate species: Ostrya guatemalensis (HJPWinkl.) Rose .
  • Ostrya virginiana subsp. virginiana : It occurs in central and eastern Canada and from the central and eastern US states to Wyoming .

use

The wood of the Virginian hop beech is of high quality, but due to the small size of the trees it is not of great economic importance. The tough, extremely hard wood (hence the English name "Ironwood") is often used to make tool handles. Medicinal uses are also known from the indigenous population .

literature

  • Flora of North America Editorial Committee (Ed.): Flora of North America North of Mexico . Volume 3: Magnoliophyta: Magnoliidae and Hamamelidae . Oxford University Press, New York / Oxford a. a. 1997, ISBN 0-19-511246-6 (English).
  • Andreas Roloff , Andreas Bärtels: Flora of the woods. Purpose, properties and use. With a winter key from Bernd Schulz. 3rd, corrected edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2008, ISBN 978-3-8001-5614-6 , pp. 435-436.
  • Schütt, Schuck, Stimm: Lexicon of tree and shrub species . Nikol, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-933203-53-8 , pp. 322 .
  • Jost Fitschen : Woody flora . 12th revised and expanded edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2007, ISBN 3-494-01422-1 , p. 620 .
  • Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 (reprint from 1996).

Web links

Commons : Virginian Hop Beech ( Ostrya virginiana )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German name after Roloff et al .: Flora of the woods. P. 435 and after Fitschen: Woody flora. P. 620.
  2. ↑ Elaine Nowick: Historical Common Names of Great Plains Plants. Volume I: Common Names , Zea Books, 2015, ISBN 978-1-60962-062-2 , p. 196.
  3. ↑ a b c d e John J. Furlow: Ostrya virginiana , in the Flora of North America. Volume 3.
  4. ↑ a b c Roloff et al .: Flora of the Woods. Pp. 435-436.
  5. ↑ Alexander C. Martin, William D. Barkley: Seed Identification Manual. Univ. of Calif. Press, 1961, 1973, ISBN 0-520-00814-6 , p. 143.
  6. ↑ FT Bonner a. a .: The Woody Plant Seed Manual. Agriculture Handbook 727, United States Dept. of Agriculture, 2008, ISBN 978-0-16-081131-9 , pp. 759 f, archive.org .
  7. ↑ a b c Ostrya virginiana. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed June 2, 2012 .
  8. ↑ a b c Schütt et al .: Lexicon of tree and shrub species. P. 322.
  9. ↑ Carpinus virginiana. In: Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed June 2, 2012 .
  10. ↑ To be precise: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. Pp. 446-447.
  11. ↑ To be precise: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. P. 686.
  12. ↑ a b c Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Ostrya. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  13. ↑ Ostrya virginiana. In: Plants for a Future. Retrieved June 2, 2012 .