American Hop-Hornbeam, Ironwood                OS-tri-a ver-jin-e-A-na

• Deciduous tree, 25-40 ft (8-12 m) tall, horizontal or drooping branches, rounded outline, pyramidal in youth.  Leaves simple, alternate, oval-laceolate, 5-13 cm long, half as wide, acuminate, rounded or heart-shaped, sharply and doubly serrate, dark green above, paler below.  Male flowers in catkins grouped in threes, visble throughout the winter, female flowers visible in spring, about 2.5 cm long.  Fruit is a flattened nutlet about 5-8 mm long, enclosed in an inflated sac about 15 cm long, resembling the flower cluster of hops, hence the common name Hop-Hornbeam.
• Sun or partial shade, best in cool, moist, well-drained, slightly acid soil.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 3b     Native from Cape Benton, Ontario to Minnesota, south to Florida and Texas.
• Ostrya: from ostrys, the Greek name.    virginiana: of Virginia.
• Corvallis: Cloverland Park, west side of tennis courts, 29th St. and Arthur Ave.