Plant · P-151

Eastern Hophornbeam

Ostrya virginiana

Eastern Hophornbeam is a slow-growing, iron-hard sub-canopy tree whose real value is winter bird food - its hop-like seed clusters hang on the branches well past leaf fall, feeding songbirds, wild turkey and quail exactly when other food is scarce. It shrugs off drought and heavy clay, but it is notoriously salt sensitive and will not tolerate flooding, so it belongs on drier, better-drained upslope ground rather than a wet bottom. Growth is slow - as little as 10-15 feet in fifteen years - so it works as the eventual permanent wind line planted behind a faster nurse tree, not as quick shelter on its own. Its extremely tough wood has traditionally made fence posts, mallets, tool handles and sleigh runners, though the volume from any one tree is small.