Carpinus caroliniana Walter
American hornbeam, ironwood, musclewood
American hornbeam is native to eastern North America. Its white, very hard wood was prized for ox yokes and tool handles by American colonists, though the relatively small size of the trees limits its commercial use today.
Hornbeam and hophornbeam are unrelated and quite different in appearance:
Plants: Trees reach 33–49′ (10–15 m) (rarely 66′ (20 m) in height, and often have multiple stems. Bark is smooth, dark bluish gray, furrowed near the base in older trees. The trunks are often fluted with vertical depressions that look a little like rippling muscles.
Leaves: Dark green, alternate, 1–4½″ (3–12 cm) long, with prominent parallel veins and fine serrations or double serrations.
Flowers: Female flowers are white; male are green—both occur on the same tree.
Fruits: A small ribbed nut ¼–5/16″ (7–8 mm) long, surrounded by a three- to seven-pointed leaf group called an involucre, ¾–1″ (2–3 cm) long. The involucres occur in clusters, and remain on the tree after other leaves drop in the fall.
Habitats: Rich wet soils such as floodplains, swamps, or mucks.
Online References:
 |
Similar species. |
4/23/2016 · Big Tree/Porcupine Trail, Beaver, Hollis, Massachusetts 
7/20/2024 · Florida Lake, Freeport, Maine 
6/13/2011 · Great Falls State Park, Washington, DC · ≈ 3½ × 2½″ (9.8 × 6.6 cm) 
6/26/2017 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, Massachusetts · ≈ 7 × 4½″ (18 × 12 cm) 
6/23/2017 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 5 × 7″ (13 × 18 cm) 
1/1/2012 · Big Tree Trail • Tudor Richards Natural History and Forest Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 17″ (29 × 44 cm) 
6/13/2025 · River Point Conservation Area, Falmouth, Maine 
1/1/2012 · Big Tree Trail • Tudor Richards Natural History and Forest Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire 
6/13/2011 · Great Falls State Park, Washington, DC · ≈ 11 × 7″ (27 × 18 cm) 
5/18/2016 · Worcester Road, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 10 × 6″ (24 × 16 cm) 
7/24/2013 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 7 × 10″ (16 × 25 cm) 
11/30/2014 · James River, Midlothian, Virginia · ≈ 1½ × 2′ (47 × 71 cm) 
6/23/2017 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton, Massachusetts · ≈ 3 × 4″ (7.7 × 10 cm) 
6/13/2011 · Great Falls State Park, Washington, DC · ≈ 4½ × 6″ (11 × 15 cm) 
10/25/2024 · River Point Conservation Area, Falmouth, Maine 
1/1/2012 · Big Tree Trail • Tudor Richards Natural History and Forest Trail, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 12 × 17″ (29 × 44 cm) 
7/26/2025 · River Point Conservation Area, Falmouth, Maine · ≈ 8 × 6″ (21 × 14 cm) 
6/28/2017 · Andres Art Institute, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire · ≈ 4½ × 7″ (12 × 16 cm) 
Hornbeams don’t have acorns!!! Looks like the acorns fell from another tree. · 9/14/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 12 × 8″ (31 × 20 cm) 
7/27/2016 · State Arboretum of Virginia, Boyce, Virginia 
7/30/2017 · Jason’s Cutoff and Nearby Trails, Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 2 × 3½″ (5.5 × 8.7 cm) 
ID is uncertain 
7/26/2025 · River Point Conservation Area, Falmouth, Maine · ≈ 9 × 6″ (22 × 15 cm) 
11/30/2011 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton · ≈ 3½ × 5″ (9.2 × 12 cm) 
9/14/2010 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts 
6/10/2018 · Virginia · ≈ 6 × 4″ (16 × 11 cm) 
6/28/2017 · Andres Art Institute, Big Bear Mountain, Brookline, New Hampshire · ≈ 6 × 4″ (16 × 11 cm) 
11/30/2011 · Nashua River Rail Trail, Groton · ≈ 7 × 11″ (18 × 27 cm) 
7/24/2013 · Beaver Brook Conservation Area, Hollis, New Hampshire · ≈ 7 × 8″ (16 × 21 cm) 
6/22/2017 · Garden in the Woods, Framingham, Massachusetts · ≈ 8 × 5″ (20 × 13 cm) 
7/27/2016 · State Arboretum of Virginia, Boyce, Virginia 
6/10/2018 · Virginia · ≈ 6 × 4″ (16 × 11 cm) 
6/13/2011 · Great Falls State Park, Washington, DC · ≈ 5 × 4½″ (13 × 11 cm) 
7/25/2025 · River Point Conservation Area, Falmouth, Maine · ≈ 10 × 6″ (24 × 16 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Fagales | Birch, she-oak, beech, walnut, bayberry, others |
| Family | Betulaceae | Birch family: birches, alders, hazels, hornbeams and hop-hornbeams |
| Genus | Carpinus | Possibly from Latin carpentum, a horse-drawn Roman vehicle with wheels made from hornbeam |
| Species | caroliniana | “Of or from the Carolinas” |
Carpinus caroliniana description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.