Carpinus orientalis

Chinese hornbeam is a member of the birch or Betulaceae family and is native to Hungary, the Balkans, Italy, Crimea, Turkey, Iran, and the Caucasus. It is slow growing and densely branched, rarely reaching over 10 m tall.

• Leaves are small, simple, alternate, 2.5-5 cm long and 1.3–2.5 cm across, rounded or slightly wedge-shaped at the base, pointed, sharply, regularly double-toothed; veins are in 12–15 pairs; leaf is dark glossy green above, with silky down on both surfaces of the midrib; stalk is hairy, 6–8 mm 1⁄4in. long.
• Flowers have separate male and female catkins; male catkins are 1.2-1.8 cm long; female catkins give way to distinctive clusters of winged nutlets with bracts that are ovate, unequal-sided, 1.3-2.3 cm long and 1.3 cm wide, coarsely and irregularly toothed, but not lobed. The unlobed bracts (not trilobed) of the fruit clusters distinguish it from C. betulus and C. caroliniana