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The hornbeams (Carpinus) are a genus of relatively small hardwood trees, placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists separate it off together with the hazels (Corylus) and hop-hornbeams (Ostrya) into a segregate family Corylaceae. The 30-40 species occur across much of the north temperate regions, with the greatest number of species in east Asia, particularly China. Only two species occur in EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se, and only one in eastern North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea.

The leaves are deciduousDeciduous means "temporary" or "tending to fall off". Deciduous plants are those that lose their foliage for part of the year. In most cases, the foliage loss coincides with the incidence of winter in temperate or polar climates, but some plants lose thei, alternate, and simple with a serrated margin, and typically vary from 3-10 cm in length. The flowers are wind-pollinated pendulous catkin s, produced in spring. The male and female flowers are on separate catkins, but on the same tree ( monoeciousPlant sexuality deals with the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. That plants employ many different strategies to engage in sexual reproduction was used, from just a structural perspective, by Carolus Linnaeus (173). The fruit is a small nut about 3-6 mm long, held in a leafy bract; the bract may be either trilobed or simple oval. There are typically 10-30 seeds on each seed catkin.

The European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), is a small to medium sized tree, typically 10-20 m tall but occasionally reaching 30 m. It is native to most of EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se except for northern BritainThe word Britain is used to refer to the United Kingdom (UK): i. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (from 1927), the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ( 1801- 1927) or the United Kingdom of Great Britain ( 1707- 1801). and most of ScandinaviaScandinavia is the cultural and historic region of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark, which mutually recognize each other as parts of Scandinavia. The collective label "Scandinavia" reflects the cultural. The leaves are 5-9 cm long, and the seeds have a 3-4 cm long trilobed bract.

The Oriental Hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) occurs in southeast Europe and southwest Asia, usually on hot dry sites at lower altitudes than C. betulus, and is a smaller tree, rarely over 10 m tall and often shrubby. It has small leaves, 3-5 cm long. The seeds differ from C. betulus in having a simple bract (not trilobed), about 2 cm long.

The Japanese Hornbeam (Carpinus japonica) is similar to C. orientalis in having unlobed seed bracts, but differs from it in having larger leaves, 8-10 cm long.

The North American species, American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana) is similar to C. betulus in leaf size and shape. The seed bract is also trilobed, but less deeply than in C. betulus.

The wood of hornbeams is very hard, and not used much due to the difficulty of working it. Its hardness has however lent it to use for carving boards, tool handles, coach wheels and other situations where a very tough, hard wood is required.

Individual European Hornbeam seed (enlarged; whole seed plus wing 4 cm long). The asymmetry of the seedwing makes it spin as it falls, improving wind dispersal. The shape of the wing is important in the identification of different hornbeam species. The common English name of "hornbeam" derives from the hardness of the wood (likened to horn) and the Old English beam, a tree (cognate with German "baum"). American Hornbeam is also occasionally known as blue-beech, ironwood, or musclewood; the first from the resemblance of the bark to that of the American Beech Fagus grandifolia, the other two from the hardness of the wood and the muscular appearance of the trunk respectively.