IRONWOOD

CHECKED, FLAKING BARK OF IRONWOOD

SMALL, ELM-LIKE LEAVES 

DORMANT MALE CATKINS, THREE TO A BUNDLE

Monday, 8:00 AM.  34 degrees F and falling.  Wind NNE, calm with occasional gusts.  The sky is overcast, it is foggy and large snowflakes are falling; it looks like we may get some accumulation, and  the road was getting slippery as Buddy and I took our morning walk.  The humidity is 92% and the barometer, now at 29.22",  is starting to rise.
   Yesterday afternoon was densely foggy, warm (mid-forties) and very wet.  I got out to the deer woods around 2:00 PM and sat until dark without seeing any deer, but fresh signs of deer activity...tracks and droppings...were evidently left during the night or early morning. The extreme dampness left me feeling stiff and cramped.
   With no deer activity I had to occupy my mind with something, so thoughts and camera turned to one of the small understory trees nearby.  Ironwood, Ostrya virginia, in the birch family (Betulaceae), is a common component of the northern mixed hardwood forest.  It seldom reaches a height of more than twenty or thirty feet under the canopy of oak, mapple, basswood and conifers such as balsam fir and white spruce.  The trunks seldom reach a circumference of more than six inches diameter at breast height, and the flaky bark of older trunks is a predominant winter identification characteristic.  Some of the small, elm-like leaves often remain on the tree in winter, as do the dormant male catkins, usually appearing in whorls of three. The dormant buds are small and sharply pointed, the young twigs reddish brown. The flowers and seeds are borne on the new twig growth, and resemble those of hops; thus another common name for this little tree, hop hornbeam.  As the common name ironwood implies, the wood is extremely hard and tough, with a very tight grain due to its slow growth.  Carpinus caroliniana, also in the birch family, is another small,  forest understory tree that also has the common name of ironwood.  It is also called blue beach, or muscle wood, because of it peculiar, sinewy, smooth bark.  It is usually found somewhat farther south in Wisconsin but the ranges of the two ironwoods can overlap.
   This morning will be occupied with our monthly Bayfield Tree Board meeting, and I will have a lot to report on from my recent urban forestry meetings.
   A rising barometer,  snow and colder temperatures are predicted for today. If it makes sense to me I will go out and hunt the incoming front later this afternoon.  If it doesn't, I will wait until tomorrow.