Scientific Name: Carpinus japonica
Common Name: Japanese hornbeam
Family Name: Betulaceae
Origin: S.E. Asia / Japan / China
Hardiness Zone: Zone 4: (-34 to -29 °C)
Plant Type: Tree - deciduous
Mature Size: 7 - 10m x 7 - 10m (height x width)
Habit: Upright
Form: Round
Texture: Medium
Landscape Uses: Street (boulevard tree), Woodland margin
Exposure: Full sun only if soil kept moist, Part sun/part shade, Filtered shade, Deep shade
Soil or Media: Humus rich, Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Alternate, Soft flexible, Heavily veined, Pinnate venation, Glabrous, Lanceolate, Serrate
Flowers: Catkin (ament), Green, Apr-May
Fruit: Nut, Yellow, Red, Brown, Jul-Aug
Key ID Features:
Leaves opposite, lanceolate, most blades 9-11cm long x 3-5cm wide, heavily veined to appear pleated (20-24 pairs of parallel sunken veins), margins deeply serrate with caudate tips; flowers in green catkins about 6cm long; fruit are the tiny nuts that drop from the dry, hop-like papery ornamental catkins. Winter ID: twigs red-brown with vertically elongated, light brown lenticels; buds alternate, conical, up to 9mm long, about 20 scales (older twigs with larger flower buds); catkins on ground below small tree.