Ironwood

Images

Click on image to view full size

Ironwood staminate catkins

Ironwood fruit

Ironwood leaf

Ironwood bark

Ironwood fruit

Ironwood bark

Ironwood staminate catkins

Ironwood

Ironwood fruit

Ironwood leaves

Morphology

Trunk

Short; diameter 8 to 12 inches; crown open, broad, rounded or narrow; branches long, slender, spreading; bark thin, reddish-brown to grayish-brown; furrows shallow; ridges narrow, plate-like, sometimes with shaggy appearance.

Twigs

Slender, flexible, slightly zigzag, pubescent near tip, initially green, becoming reddish-brown to dark brown; leaf scars 2-ranked, small, crescent-shaped or half-round; bundle scars 3; buds sessile, egg-shaped, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, pointed; scales 5-7, arranged spirally, reddish-brown.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous; narrowly egg-shaped to elliptic, 2 to 4.8 inches long, 1.2 to 2.4 inches wide; upper surface dark green, dull, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; lower surface paler, pubescent, more so on veins; lateral veins 10-16 on each side of midrib; margins unevenly double-toothed; tip pointed to tapering-pointed; base shallowly heart-shaped to tapering or rounded; stalk slender, 1/6 to 2/5 inch long, pubescent.

Flowers

With the leaves; monoecious (male and female flowers on same tree); staminate catkins form in the previous season, usually in 3's, drooping, cylindric, 4/5 to 2 inches long, reddish-brown; elongating at flowering; flowers crowded; catkin scales cupped, green with outer margin brown, short-pointed; stamens 3-7+; anthers yellow; pistillate catkins solitary or usually in pairs, erect or nodding, slender, 1/2 to 1 inch long, few flowered; each flower enclosed 2 white, woolly bracts with margins united, resembling sac; style and stigma thread-like; stalk 1/2 to 3.4 inch long;

Fruit

July-September; nutlets, 10-25, arranged in cone-like cluster, 1.4 to 2.6 inches long, 4/5 to 1 inch wide, 4/5 inch thick; each nutlet egg-shaped to elliptic, 1/5 to 1/3 inch long, flat, olive-brown, shiny, enclosed in 2 bracts; bracts egg-shaped, 1/2 to 1 inch long, papery, veined, tan or straw-colored; tips tapering-pointed; stalk to 4/5 inch long.

Ecology

Habitat

Woods on well-drained slopes and ridges, beneath taller trees, borders of moist to dry upland woods, rarely stream banks and flood plains; often on rocky soils.

Distribution

East 1/3 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans steeped the bark and used the liquid as a wash for sore muscles and held it in the mouth to treat toothaches. A decoction of wood was taken for coughs and kidney disorders. The flowers were used in face-painting. The wood was used to make bows, tool handles, and as building material for dwellings.

Additional Notes