The ‘beam’ in Hornbeam refers to a living tree and has its origins in Old English. It is related to the German ‘baum’ and Dutch ‘boom’, for tree. The timber from Hornbeam is particularly hard – as hard as horn – hence its name. The wood has been used for wheel hubs, mill wheels and chopping blocks.
The trunks, or boles, of a Hornbeam often grow twisted and gnarled and they have silvery grey bark, often with deep fissures. The leaves are oval with a pointed top and rounded base with a short stalk or petiole. They have a double toothed margin and the underside is hairy.
Hornbeams are monoecious so male and female catkins are produced on the same tree in Spring. The immature catkins can be seen in February / March and they open up by April / May.
Vicarage Road
There are six Hornbeams along the front of the park, two of them by the entrance near the lodge at the corner of Avenue Road and the other four stretched out along the path going down towards the vehicle entrance. Two of them seem to have a fastigiate growth which means that most, if not all, of their branches grow upwards from the trunk.
Avenue Road
At the top end of the path alongside Avenue Road, nearer the car park, there are three Hornbeams. One is a small tree near the fence, another is a large tree right next to the path and the third is across the path next to the car park.
Grange Road car park
There are two large Hornbeams next to the hedge on one side of the car park and two smaller trees on the other side of the hedge. The two large trees are next to each other and one has a distinct lean, with a gnarly trunk. In the small area between the car park and the path there is another Hornbeam with a gnarly trunk and then over the path towards the small play area there is a Hornbeam at one end of one of the flower beds.
This small Hornbeam is one of several trees planted in a line alongside the small playground.
Below the Thrive garden
Walking down the hill, past the triangular area alongside the Thrive fence you get to the corner of the fence where it opens up to a small wooded patch. Right on the corner is a Hornbeam. There are a few tiny saplings alongside it so it may veery well have successfully seeded.
Car park triangle
There is a triangular area of grass next to the main car park which has a variety of interesting trees on it and around it. One of them is a Hornbeam. It is not one of the more exotic trees but it is nevertheless a nice specimen of a Hornbeam.
There were some particularly frosty days in early December ’23 and conditions were just right to produce a lot of hoar frost on the trees. This Hornbeam was one of several trees that had a good coating of frost on them. It was fortunate to then have a nice blue sky to show it all off.
Kings Heath Park Trees 