Ostrya japonica Sarg.

The wood is hard and shiny, and is used in construction and making furniture.

Trees to 20 m tall; bark dark gray. Branchlets gray-brown, densely pubescent when young, glabrescent. Petiole 1-1.5 cm, densely pubescent; leaf blade ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 3.5-12 × 1.5-5.5 cm, abaxially densely pubescent, glabrescent, bearded in axils of lateral veins, adaxially pilose especially along midvein, base subrounded, cordate, obliquely cordate, or broadly cuneate, margin irregularly and doubly serrate, apex acuminate; lateral veins 10-15 on each side of midvein, 5-10 mm apart. Female inflorescence racemose, 1.5-2.5 cm; peduncle 2-2.5 cm, densely pubescent; bracts overlapping, saccate, obovate-oblong or elliptic, 1-2 cm × 6-12 mm, membranous, glabrescent, base without a stipe, setose, apex apiculate; veins reticulate. Nutlet light brown, narrowly ovoid, 6-7 mm, shiny, glabrous, ribbed. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Jul-Sep.

S Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan [Japan, Korea]

Temperate forests; 1000-2800 m.

Ostrya liana Hu.

Ostrya japonica, known as East Asian hophornbeam, or Japanese hop-hornbeam, is a species of tree in the Betulaceae family growing to 25 m tall. It is native to Japan, Korea and China. In China, it occurs in temperate forests of southern Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, and Shaanxi provinces at altitudes between 1,000–2,800 metres (3,300–9,200 ft). In Japan it is known as Asada (浅田).