Ostrya japonica

Japanese species

BetulaceaeOstrya

Japanese hop-hornbeam or East Asian hot-hornbeam is a member of the birch or Betulaceae family and is the only Ostrya native to Japan, Korea and China (Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi provinces). In Japan, it is known as Asada (浅田). The tree can reach up to 20 m tall.

  • Leaves are alternate, simple, glossy, ovate-lanciolate, dark-green, up to 12 cm long and 5.5 cm across, pinnately veined, pointed and double-toothed; bearded underneath in the axils of lateral veins; petiole is densely pubescent.
  • Flowers are catkins produced in early spring at the same time as the new leaves appear. Staminate (male) catkins are up to 12 cm long and are arranged in groups of 1–4. Pistillate (female) catkins are up to 5 cm long and contain 10–30 flowers each.
  • Fruit is a small nutlet 3–5 mm long fully enclosed in a papery white sac (involcure) 1–1.8 cm long, with 6–20 sacs on each catkin, with bladder-like creamy husks in pendulous clusters up to 7 cm long.

Contributors

  • Philippe de Spoelberch