European Hornbeam

This sounds like the name of a garden beetle, or a very hard "Jeopardy" question. But the European Hornbeam is a beautiful tree: dense and dark green in summer, brilliant yellow in fall, with a perfect bare structure in winter. The scale is nice for a residential street tree-- not too tall, not too short. I've read they are also resistant to pollution, poor drainage, compacted soil and all the other disadvantages of city living. I had a hard time yesterday getting a picture, because they grow along busy arterials. This one is just starting to turn color, and it's in an industrial area I drive through almost every day.

It's an old variety, and the wood is so strong the ancient Romans used it to make chariots, and the American pioneers yokes for their oxen. I've driven past these trees for years and admired them, always wondering what they were. Just recently, I read on a Seattle blog that local arborists were donating their time to pruning the old Hornbeams, so I finally learned the name. On a bright fall day, a golden row of them is a stunning sight.