North Carolina Wildflowers, Shrubs, & Trees
by Jeffrey S. Pippen | Back to Jeff's Plant Page | Jeff's Nature Pages
Betulaceae > Carpinus (musclewood, ironwood, blue-beech, hornbeam) |
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Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana)
Orange Co., NC
15 Mar 2008With flowers in catkins in the spring just before the leaves appear, Musclewood is common in forested habitats statewide in NC, especially along waterways and bottomlands. |
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Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana)
Orange Co., NC
15 Mar 2008Distinctive sinuey trunk lends the common name Musclewood or Muscle-tree. It's also known as American Hornbeam, Blue-beech, and Ironwood along with various other common names, a few of which attest to the very strong, hard wood formed by this tree. |
Annotated habitat and distribution information listed above is from Radford, Ahles, & Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. UNC Press; and from personal observations and discussions with Will Cook, Harry LeGrand, and Bob Wilbur. Common names from personal experience and supplemented by the following resources USDA plants website, Flora of the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia, and NatureServe.
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Created on Apr 6, 2008 | jeffpippen9@gmail.com