This is one of a series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens compiled by the Friends group. The tree tag number relates to the small aluminium discs, usually fixed on the tree trunk, 2 to 3m above ground level.
Family: Betulaceae
This tree was described previously on this website as
Carpinus orientalis. Closer examination of the fruit and particularly the bracts around the fruit (see photo below), make it clear that this is a form of the
common hornbeam. The bracts also clearly distinguish it from the
hop hornbeam. The fruit bracts of
C. orientalis are not three-lobed. It seems most likely that this is the form of common hornbeam called 'Asplenifolia'. The other cut-leaved hornbeams
C. betulus 'Incisa' and
C. betulus 'Quercifolia' both have smaller leaves than the species. This is a very rare form not listed in most reference sources. It is described in the RHS dictionary of Gardening, but is not mentioned in the Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs. This is an attractive tree with some amazing examples of self-grafted branches, quite common in some species and called inosculation - Wikipedia has a description and lots of photos. Our Botanic Gardens tree produces very good autumn colours. It was nominated for a regional Tree of the Year in 2019.
Photos taken in Belfast Botanic Gardens in 2007 and 2019. Copyright: Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens.
Click here to view the rest of the tree archive
