Wisconsin Red® Hornbeam or Musclewood. Heritage Seedlings says of this plant: "For over 35 years Michael Yanny, Wisconsin, has been selecting and improving this native Musclewood. He started with a few trees that had some fall color and now he releases, with our help, the Wisconsin Red™ strain which has amazing fall color, so much so in fact, if you didn't know better you would suspect it was a different species. Raging reds, oranges and yellow autumn tones set this strain apart from normal seedlings and even his earlier work." The picture is from Heritage Seedlings, OR, and it shows a bed of seedlings of this strain in fall color. This species has one of the broadest ranges of any tree in North America, and as one can see from the species epithet "caroliniana", which means "from the Carolinas" in Latin, it is native from the Deep South to Canada. It is listed as native to 34 states and three provinces in Canada, as well as Mexico. It is easily grown, but in the Deep South it is happiest when grown in conjunction with other species and not in the "hot, blazing" full sun. Here in SC one will find it growing in low lying mixed woodlands. As the common name, "Musclewood" indicates, the trunk develops with muscle-like undulations with exfoliating smooth bark, which is truly one of the more ornamental aspects of this species. The second picture is courtesy of the Jenkins Arboretum and Gardens, Devon, PA. The range picture is courtesy of Wikipedia.
Zones 3-9
