Saw this tree out hiking today. If it’s hop hornbeam like I think, it would be the biggest one I’ve seen by far. Probably 14 or 15 inches diameter. Leaves were partially eaten by something but they look to be HH. The tree o the right was a big red oak, about 3.5 ft diameter plus. I tried to have one of the dogs come sit for scale but he was a good distance from the tree. What’s do you think?
Hard to tell Steve since ive never seen a full size HH. If so its rare they get that big. Leaves strike me as elm or beech. Are the leaves from the same tree?
The leaves are from the smaller tree on the left in the pic with Nolan ( dog). When I was there do ruled out beech based on the bark. Elm maybe- I don’t seem to see much elm out and about.
Sure looks like it. We get a bunch of 4-6 inch around here and the leaves are exactly the same. Like the one leaf that is pointing south which you can still see it comes to a narrow point. That point is a little longer than elm leaves and HH leaves have softer edges than elm.
Years ago I was marking timber sales for the Michigan DNR in the western UP. I found a 20" DBH Ironwood or Hop Hornbeam. I was amazed when found it and there were a few other bigger ironwood around it, but nothing that big. The big tree had some rot in in. Never seen one that large before or since then.
The bark, from what I can see, sure looks like ironwood to me. I've never seen one that big before, as they said seem to die at 6-8" diameter around here.
That's how hophornbeam looks too, leaf wise. Types of Elm Trees with Their Bark and Leaves - Identification Guide Vs... So very similar leaf wise. But the bark is the giveaway. No elm looks like the bark of a hophornbeam.
