Trees , to 9 m; crowns open, narrowly rounded. Bark brownish gray, broken into narrow vertical scales or rather ragged strips. Twigs sparsely to moderately pubescent, often with stipitate glands. Leaves: petiole covered with stipitate glands. Leaf blade ovate or broadly ovate-elliptic to broadly elliptic or nearly orbiculate, 2.5--6.5 × 1.5--5 cm, base narrowly rounded to cordate or cuneate, margins sharply and unevenly doubly serrate, apex acute; surfaces abaxially pubescent, especially on veins. Inflorescences: staminate catkins 2--3 cm; pistillate catkins 0.6--1 cm. Infructescences 2.5--4 × 1.8--2.5 cm; bracts 1--1.8 × 0.5--1 cm.
Flowering late spring. Streamsides and rocky slopes in moist canyons; 1200--2400 m; Ariz., N.Mex., Tex., Utah.
Ostrya knowltonii occurs sporadically throughout the arid Southwest, including both rims of the Grand Canyon. On the basis of morphology and phytogeography, it appears to be more closely allied with Ostrya in mountainous western Mexico than with the eastern O . virginiana .
Plant: large shrub or small tree to 9 m tall, the trunks often several; bark grayish-tan; twigs moderately pubescent, becoming glabrous; hairs spreading, white; glands brown, long-stipitate to sessile
Leaves: blades ovate-lanceolate (occasionally suborbicular or obovate), 0.7-6.0(-8.2) cm long, 0.7-5.2 cm wide, the bases rounded to obtuse and often slightly oblique, the apices usually acute to rounded, the margins sharply and irregularly doubly serrate; surfaces sparsely pubescent especially on the veins
INFLORESCENCE: staminate catkins 1.5-3 cm long; pistillate catkins 0.7-1 cm long, in fruit to 4.5 cm long and about as wide, changing from green to white to tan, the bracts inflated, hop-like, 1-1.8 cm long, 0.5-1 cm wide
Flowers: STAMINATE FLOWERS 3 per bract; stamens 3-6, the filaments divided, each part bearing an apically pilose anther sac. PISTILLATE FLOWERS 2 per bract
Fruit: nutlets, ca. 6 mm long and 2 mm wide
Misc: In moist canyons, usually near water; 1400-2150 m (4600-7000 ft.); late spring
REFERENCES: Brasher, Jeffrey W. 2001. Betulaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 33(1)
Common Name: Knowlton's hophornbeam
Duration: Perennial
Nativity: Native
Lifeform: Tree
Wetland Status: FAC
General: Deciduous shrub or small tree, 2-8 m (7-26 ft) tall; trunk 3-18 cm in diameter; twigs sparsely to moderately hairy, usually with stalked glands, becoming glabrous. Bark ashy gray to brownish gray, smooth, breaking into narrow vertical scales with maturity.
Leaves: Alternate, simple, ovate, lance-ovate, or elliptic, mostly 2-6 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, green and glabrous to sparsely hairy above, paler and pubescent beneath, especially on the veins, margins sharply and doubly serrate; petiole pubescent, usually with stalked glands.
Flowers: Male and female flowers on the same plant; male catkins clustered, pendulous, 2-3 cm long, each bract subtending 3 flowers; female catkins solitary, more-or-less erect, 2 flowers within each brac.
Fruits: Nutlet, ovoid, brown, faintly ribbed, enclosed in an inflated bladder-like bract, the fruiting catkin 2.5-4 cm long.
Ecology: Found along streams, rocky slopes, and in canyons from 4,000-8,000 ft (1219-2438 m), flowers March-June.
Distribution: Coconino County; southwestern U.S.
Notes: A seldom-used tree because of its scattered and uncommon distribution.
Ethnobotany: The wood is extremely dense and close grained, and probably has been used locally throughout its range for tool handles, fuel, and posts.
Editor: Springer et al. 2011
