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| ## american hornbeam {#american-hornbeam .Title-Header}               |
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| *Carpinus caroliniana* Walt.                                          |
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| Plant Symbol = CACA18                                                 |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

##### Alternate Names![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.59375in" height="3.8958333333333335in"} {#alternate-names .Header-3}

ironwood, musclewood, muscle beech, blue beech, water beech

##### Uses {#uses .Header-3}

The wood of *Carpinus* is of minor economic importance because of the
small size of the trees. It is whitish, extremely hard, and heavy and
has been used for making mallet heads, tool handles, levers, and other
small, hard, wooden objects. The wood is not subject to cracking or
splitting and was used by American pioneers for bowls and dishes.

American hornbeam is planted in landscapes and naturalized areas. It
prefers deep, fertile, moist, acidic soil and grows best in partial
shade, but will grow in full sun. Its chief liabilities in cultivation
are a relatively slow growth rate and difficulty in transplantation. It
is not drought-tolerant.

Seeds, buds, or catkins are eaten by a number of songbirds, ruffed
grouse, ring-necked pheasants, bobwhite, turkey, fox, and gray
squirrels. Cottontails, beaver, and white-tailed deer eat the leaves,
twigs, and larger stems. American hornbeam is heavily used by beaver,
because it is readily available in typical beaver habitat.

##### Status {#status .Header-3}

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered
species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

##### Description {#description .Header-3}

American hornbeam is a native, large shrub or small tree with a
wide-spreading, flat-topped crown, the stems are slender, dark brown,
hairy; bark gray, thin, usually smooth, with smooth, longitudinal
fluting (resembling a flexed muscle). Its leaves are deciduous, arranged
alternately along stems, egg-shaped to elliptical in outline, ¾ to 4¾
inches long, with doubly-serrate edges. They are glabrous above,
slightly to moderately pubescent beneath, especially on major veins,
with or without conspicuous dark glands. During the growing season,
leaves are dark green but turn yellow to orange or red in the fall. The
flowers are unisexual, in catkins. The male catkins are 1 to 2½ inches
long, female catkins are somewhat shorter. Both types occur on the same
plant). Fruits are nutlets surrounded by a 3-winged, narrow, leaf-like
bract. Numerous nutlets are held together in pendulous chain-like
clusters, changing from green to brown in September-October.

##### Adaptation and Distribution {#adaptation-and-distribution .Header-3}

American hornbeam occurs primarily as an understory species in
bottomland mixed-hardwood forests. Best sites are in the transition
between mesic and wet areas \-- near lakes and swamps, on well-drained
terraces of rivers, terraces or steep slopes of minor streams with some
gradient, coves, ravine bottoms, and rises in lowlands. These sites
generally have abundant soil moisture but sufficient drainage to prevent
saturation and poor aeration during the growing season, although trees
may also grow on sites flooded for up to about 20% of the growing
season.

American hornbeam is distributed throughout most of the eastern United
States. For a current distribution map, please consult the Plant Profile
page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

##### Establishment {#establishment .Header-3}

American hornbeam is planted in landscapes and naturalized areas. It
prefers deep, fertile, moist, acidic soil and grows best in partial
shade, but will grow in full sun. Its chief liabilities in cultivation
are a relatively slow growth rate and difficulty in transplantation. It
is not drought-tolerant.

American hornbeam begins to produce seeds at about 15 years and peaks at
25 to 50 years, probably ceasing at about 75 years. Large seed crops are
produced at 3-5-year intervals. Seeds are mainly dispersed by birds.
Seed establishment will occur on leaf litter in deep shade. Flooding,
drought, damping off, proximity to an adult of the same species, and
herbivory are important causes of mortality for first-year seedlings.
Reproduction also may occur by sprouts from the root crown and by root
sprouts, although the latter apparently is not common.

American hornbeam is best suited to establishment in bottomlands that
have already been stabilized by pioneer species. It is shade-tolerant
and persists in the understory of mature plant communities. Shade
tolerance declines with age and American hornbeam is likely to become
dominant, with other subcanopy species, at some sites after overstory
removal.

##### Management {#management .Header-3}

Because of its thin bark, American hornbeam is probably either
top-killed or completely killed by most fires. It occurs mostly in
communities that rarely experience fire. It sprouts after top-kill by
fire and repeated fires at a closely spaced interval will quickly
eliminate the species. The wood rots very rapidly and dying trees
usually disappear naturally within a decade.

##### Prepared By:  {#prepared-by .Header-3}

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

*Rebecca Briggs*

Formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Materials Center, Beltsville,
Maryland

##### 

##### Species Coordinator:  {#species-coordinator .Header-3}

*Lincoln Moore*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

##### 

##### Edited 13Nov2003 JLK; 01jun06 jsp {#edited-13nov2003-jlk-01jun06-jsp .Header-4}

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual
orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases
apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require
alternative means for communication of program information (Braille,
large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA\'s [TARGET
Center](http://www.usda.gov/oo/target.htm) at 202-720-2600 (voice and
TDD).*

*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or
TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.*

*Read about [Civil Rights at the Natural Resources Convervation
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