{"id":20044,"date":"2022-09-22T09:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T13:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20044"},"modified":"2025-08-01T09:43:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:43:22","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-ironwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-ironwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Ironwood"},"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

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.\"Drawing<\/a><\/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> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the ironwood or Ostrya virginiana.<\/em><\/p>\n

This tree, also known as Eastern hop hornbeam, is identifiable by its oblong leaves with doubly-toothed margins, which are held alternately on very fine twigs, and its fruit, a loosely formed green pod at the tip of the branches, which resembles hops. The bark is medium to dark brown with flakes and prominent flaky ridges which develop as the tree ages. The leaves of ironwood produce vibrant yellow fall color.<\/p>\n

The ironwood, typically an understory species but sometimes found as a landscape tree, is closely related to the\u00a0American Hornbeam<\/a>\u00a0or blue beech or musclewood, although the bark of the latter is gray and appears stretched across the muscles and sinews of the tree.<\/p>\n