{"id":19251,"date":"2022-05-12T09:00:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=19251"},"modified":"2025-06-03T14:41:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T18:41:22","slug":"trees-of-indiana-blue-beech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/trees-of-indiana-blue-beech\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Blue Beech"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

\"Drawing<\/a>The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a>\u00a0exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the Blue Beech or Carpinus caroliniana.<\/p>\n

The blue beech, also known as the American hornbeam, musclewood or the water beech, is an understory tree that stands out due to its gray bark and striations that resemble muscles and sinews as well as its doubly toothed leaves.<\/p>\n

The small tree, which typically grows to a height of 20 to 35 feet, has oblong leaves with doubly toothed leaf margins, arranged alternately on very fine twigs. Lower leaf veins are seldom forked. The fruit is in clusters, consisting of small, seed-like nuts on small, three-lobed leaves. It’s bark and fruit help differentiate blue beech from its close relative, the ironwood.<\/p>\n

Blue beech’s natural range is the majority of the midwestern and eastern United States, reaching as far\u00a0south as Texas.<\/p>\n