Plant of the day is: Ostrya virginiana or hop hornbeam

Plant of the day is: Ostrya virginiana or hop hornbeam

This lands a spot as a plant of the day because it is one of those plants that has just recently found me again.  On the family ranch this last weekend I was out hiking with my Dad (and Niki) and I finally looked up and saw these great fruit.  My dad had been wondering for some time what they were and pointed them out to me in the past (when they weren't fruiting).  He had mentioned something about ironwood but I hadn't put it together as I was really only familiar with the hop hornbeam common name, thus given because the fruit resembles hops.  I know you can see it.  Anyways, turns out we have a massive swath of these through some of our forest.  Yay.

Copyright Gerrit Davidse

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

This plant of the day gonna be a little bit more informal, and that's just how its gonna be.  So, to start, the fruit above is of whats called an involucre or a bract (modified leaf) that in this usage relates to a very conspicuous bract at the base of an inflorescence.  Tis a silly word involucre.  If you get a chance to grab one of these, they come apart very nicely and there is a seed inside the papery enclosure.  What you are looking at above is the pistillate or female inflorescence.  This is a monoecious plant which means that it has both male and female organs on the same plant and in this instance, separate male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers.  Below is the pistillate flower, super cool.

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

So above is the pistillate flower, with some cool looking styles.  I like its style, dude.  These open up during the spring around the time the leaves are emerging (as you can see by the young leaf above).  Now, below, are the male flowers or catkins (a term thrown around a lot in the elm or Betulaceae family).  So these form a little earlier and are present throughout the winter. 

Copyright Gerrit Davidse

“Tropicos, botanical information system at the Missouri Botanical Garden - www.tropicos.org” 

Anyways, onto some other stuff.  This is a fairly small tree.  30 to 50 feet tops, often you'll see it much smaller.  If you are looking for these fruity type things that are the best ID feature.  Look anytime after mid-summer as they begin to mature.  The fruit starts out fairly white looking, fades to a green, then turns brown.  The bark is fairly peely and vertically arranged, its ...got a character to it that I think you could probably get familiar with and use as an ID trait.

The genus is small (only about 10 species) and often called ironwood as the wood is very dense and hard and has been used for bows.  It apparently goes well with Euonymous atropurpureus or Eastern wahoo which is supposed to make good arrows.

It is a host for the Walnut Sphinx which is a pretty solid looking moth whose caterpillar produces a high pitched whistle when attacked.  Fun fact for the day.

Basically, this is a pretty solid tree that is often overlooked (even by me apparently).  Sadly, wasn't taught much about it in school other than an honorable mention.  It can handle some pretty rocky dry soils so, its roots like to breathe.  Probably don't plant in clay, but it is a tough tree.

Enjoy.  Good hunting, this is one worth seeing.