Plant Guide > Trees > Hornbeams > Western Ironwood Hornbeam Tree

Western Ironwood Hornbeam Tree

Western Ironwood Hornbeam TreeThe Western Ironwood (0. Knowltoni), which was discovered in Arizona but a few ears ago, is smaller in every way than the Eastern species, but every trait proclaims it a flop hornbeam. The leaves, catkins and hops are short and blunt pointed. The protective pubescence which belongs to desert plants is on the young shoots and the leaves and fruits of this tree. Its limbs are often gnar-led, but it forms a rounded symmetrical top, and is sometimes 30 feet high.

The tree is probably one of the rarest in the country, for as far as known it has not been, found except in one locality, where it has formed a considerable grove. How this species has been cut off from its near relative in the East is a problem worthy of investigation.