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Trees, Shown to the Children

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<h2>PLATE V THE HORNBEAM</h2> This is a tree that many people tell you they have never noticed; even people who know the names of most of our forest trees look surprised if you ask them which is the Hornbeam (1); they have never heard of it. And yet it grows freely in England in the woods and hedgerows, and like the Beech it is invaluable for sheltering with its close bushy branches younger trees that are struggling to live. If left to grow in good soil the Hornbeam will become a tall tree over seventy feet high, but it is not usual to find such well-grown Hornbeams, because the tree is generally planted to form hedges, and as these require thickness and bushiness rather than height, the top of the tree is often cut off, so that all its strength may go to producing side-branches. Last century it was the fashion to have curious puzzle-paths made in gardens. You entered at a gap in a leafy hedge and walked on and on, and in and out between growing hedges till you came to an open space in the centre. Then the puzzle was to find your way out again, and this was sometimes very difficult. This kind of puzzle-path was called a maze, and the hedges of these mazes were frequently made of Hornbeam, because this tree will allow itself to be clipped and cut into any shape, and if its tall spreading branches are taken away, it at once puts out many small side-shoots which form a thick hedge. The Hornbeam branches have a curious habit of growing together where they cross each other. You may find two good-sized branches which are separate on the lower part of the tree, but higher up they cross and touch each other, and frequently they join together and become one branch. In the town of Ghent in Belgium there is a winding walk arched with Hornbeam: the trees have been planted so close that they meet overhead, and they have then been clipped and cut till they form a green tunnel under which you can walk for three hundred yards. The trunk of the Hornbeam is a dull grey colour, and it is marked with white spots. It is not round, as are most tree trunks, but looks as if it had been slightly flattened, and so made oval when it was young. The leaves are not unlike those of the Elm and the young Beech, and when the tree is young it is sometimes mistaken for one or other of these. But you will notice some differences if you look carefully. The Hornbeam leaf (2) is oval and tapers to a sharp point. It has strongly-marked veins running from the centre to the edge of the leaf, and these veins stand up like cord on the under-side of the leaf. You remember that the Beech leaf was smooth and glossy, and that the Elm leaf was rough and hairy? The Hornbeam comes just between the two: it is too rough to be a Beech leaf, and is also too pointed, and it is too smooth to be an Elm leaf. Besides, the two sides of the Hornbeam leaf meet exactly opposite each other on the leaf stalk, and in the Elm the one side of the leaf very often joins the stalk farther down than the other: the leaf is lopsided. The Hornbeam leaves have two rows of teeth round the edge, and in autumn they turn yellow, and this yellow colour changes into red-brown as the winter draws near. In sheltered places the leaves will hang on the branches all winter, till in spring they are pushed off by the young leaf buds. The Hornbeam has two kinds of flowers, which grow in catkins, and both are found on the same tree. The stamen catkins (3) come with the young leaves early in April, and they grow on those twigs which were produced last year. It is not possible to mistake the Hornbeam for either the Beech or the Elm if you see the flowers, for neither of these has hanging catkins like the Hornbeam. Each catkin is made up of many green scales covering the catkin loosely. These scales are broad and oval, and they end in a sharp point. Hidden at the foot of each scale lies a thick bunch of yellow-headed stamens with no petals and no sepals around them. These yellow stamen heads end in tufts of fine hairs, and they are filled with pollen dust. As soon as this dust is ripe the yellow heads burst and scatter it over the seed flowers which have been making ready to receive it. After this the stamen catkins shrivel, and they soon fall from the tree. But there are other Hornbeam flowers, also growing in catkins (4) which appear at the end of this year’s young twigs. Each catkin is covered with soft, silky spear leaves, and behind every three of these narrow leaves there nestles a tiny seed with two little horns standing up at the top. These silky leaves soon fall off and are replaced by others which are very different. These are called bracts, and they look like a small hand with one long finger and two much shorter fingers. They are covered with a network of fine veins, and inside the hand sits the fruit (5), a small three-sided nut. When you see a bushy, drooping cluster of these green leafy bracts, each with its nut at the foot, you wonder how any one could mistake the Hornbeam for either the Beech or the Elm. You will often see a dainty little bird called the hawfinch sitting on the Hornbeam branches and eating the nuts. The wood of this tree is said to be very hard. Joiners do not care to work on Hornbeam, as it quickly blunts their tools; and some people tell you that the name is really Hard-beam, and that we have got into a careless habit of calling the tree by a wrong name. But there is another tale which may be the true one. Long ago, when ploughing was done by bullocks in this country, as it is to-day in many lands, each pair of bullocks was fastened together with a wooden collar called a yoke. This yoke was made of Hornbeam because of its strength, and the tree might get its name because from it was made the beam of wood that goes over the horns. Nowadays the wood is little used except for making small things, such as handles of knives, and spoons, and cog-wheels. <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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