The Hop Hornbeam is a very different tree from the one just described,
resembling it only in the toughness of its wood, whence the name of
Lever-Wood has been very generally applied to it. This tree is rarely
seen by the wayside. Those only know it whose occupation has led them to
seek it for its service in the arts, or those who have examined it in
their botanical rambles. It is a small tree, that affects the habit of
the elm in its general appearance, of the birch in its inflorescence,
and of the beech in the upward tendency of its small branches. It is so
much like the elm in the style of its foliage, in the fine division and
length of its slender spray, and in the color and appearance of its
bark, that it might easily be mistaken for a small elm, without any of
its drooping habit. It does not, like the elm, however, break into any
eccentric modes of growth. A striking peculiarity of this tree is the
multitude of hop-like capsular heads that contain the seeds.