The Hornbeams, of which in New England there are two species belonging
to a different genus, are small trees, rather elegant in their shape,
and remarkable for the toughness and hardness of their wood. The
American Hornbeam, or Blue Beech, is distinguished by its fluted trunk,
which, as Emerson describes it, “is a short irregular pillar, not unlike
the massive reeded columns of Egyptian architecture, with projecting
ridges, which run down from each side of the lower branches. The
branches are irregular, waving or crooked, going out at various but
large angles, and usually from a low point on its trunk.” Old Gerard
remarks concerning the English Hornbeam: “The wood or timber is better
for arrows and shafts, pulleys for mills, and such like devices, than
elm or witch-hazel; for in time it waxeth so hard that the toughness and
hardness of it may rather be compared to horn than to wood; and
therefore it was called Hornbeam.”
The foliage of the American Hornbeam resembles that of black birch,
neatly corrugated, of a delicate verdure in summer, and assuming a fine
tint of varying crimson and scarlet in the autumn. The name of Blue
Beech was applied to it from the similarity of its branches to the
common beech-tree, while their surface is bluish instead of an ashen
color. Though existing in every part of the country, it is not abundant
anywhere, and is not in any tract of woodland the principal timber. It
is most conspicuous on the borders of woods, by the sides of roads
lately constructed. The scarcity of trees of this species near old
roadsides has been caused by the value of their timber, which is cut for
mechanical purposes wherever it may be found. The wood of this tree is
used for levers, for the spokes of wheels, and for nearly all other
purposes which require extreme hardness of the material used.