Slender-limbed small tree near College Creek.
The ironwood is native
to southern Canada and eastern, midwestern and south-eastern US, extending
into northern Mexico. It is native throughout Iowa and is probably the most
common woodland tree in the state, but has attracted little horticultural
interest as the flowers are not showy, fall color is not spectacular and
trees are slow to establish after transplanting. The fruit is a small, flattened
nut enclosed in an inflated, papery sac. These sacs overlap in hanging clusters,
resembling the fruit of the hop vine, hence another common name "hophornbeam."
The wood is harder than that of any other Iowa native tree.
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