Carpinus betulus

Scientific name: Carpinus betulus

Author: Carl Linnaeus 1707-1778

Common name: Common Hornbeam

Family: Carpinaceae 

Location

Halfway between the Residence Garden and the Northern Pavilion is the best place to experience the last of this fabulous autumn season. Five golden clad specimens of Common Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus, crowd around the entrance to the De Ferranti Shelter. 

The bark and the branching, everything about these trees is graceful. Little wonder they are a popular ornamental tree in the Northern Hemisphere. Europe to Iran is the natural distribution and the seed for our trees arrived from Dendrarium 'Belye Notschi', Sochi, Russia in 1984.

Multi-coloured leaves adorn the Sorbus megalocarpa at the same junction. Further down the path, past the stone seat, a glance up-hill will reveal the energetic yellow of Acer davidii. Ginkgo biloba cv. Fastigiata is a ball of yellow in the Conifer Cultivar bed and bronzed oaks adorn the Garden.