Hornbeam natural or planted?

[wahoowad]

I have several Eastern Hornbeam trees growing in my yard. My lot (in central Virginia) is heavily wooded with mature Virginia Pine, Red/White Oaks, Hickory, Poplar, etc. and a few of these Hornbeam. Do you think they occured naturally or are these usually planted?

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

You are inside Hornbeam's native range, so they could be natural.
Do they have a root flare? If so, they probably weren't planted.

 

[wahoowad]

Sorry - what's a root flare?

 

[TheKid]

I think Mike is referring to the natural taper a good tree develops as a result of wind strain (nursery trees are often staked down, so the trunk doesn't develop this taper) and having plenty of room for the roots to spread out ( nursery trees are often root bound in the pot). Look at the base of the tree and see if it has even slight buttressing http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=buttress. If it does, it was probably there from seed, however, I'm not sure of it's status as a native species there, hopefully an eastcoaster will respond too.

 

[treeseer]

flare described here http://www.treesaregood.com/treecare/tree_planting.aspx

hornbeam not that common in my part of nc but it grows well. post a picture?

 

[appalachianarbo]

Here in western NC, we've got them in the semi-mature dry upland forests and some in the floodplains. They don't seem to get much bigger than 8" in diameter and 25' tall, but I guess that's because they're an understory species. I researched the name and found that it came from Europe, where similar species were used to yoke oxen and were called Yoke-elms, or Horn-beams (wooden beam that ran across the back behind the horns).