This is how the hornbeam leaf is structured
- Length: 4 to 10 cm
- Width: 2 to 4 cm
- Color: green, yellow in autumn
- Shape: egg-shaped oval
- Special feature: sawn leaf edge
Difference to the leaves of the common beech
The leaves of the European beech are also green, unless it is the special shape Copper beech with red leaves. The leaf shape of both trees is so similar that they are often confused.
also read
- Interesting facts about the fruit of the hornbeam
- Why does the hornbeam get brown leaves?
- Propagate a hornbeam using cuttings
The difference is that the leaves of the common beech are more likely to sprout than those of the hornbeam. The leaf of the hornbeam is not that shiny.
The structure of hornbeam leaves looks a bit coarser and the leaf feels "older". The foliage of the hornbeam turns bright yellow in autumn, while the leaves of the common beech turn an orange-red color.
Different colors throughout the year
Hornbeams offer a different view in every season, regardless of the budding and the respective pruning.
The leaf color changes over the course of the year. When it shoots, the leaf is a whole delicate light green and has light hairs. In summer it turns a bright green.
The hornbeam leaves turn yellow in autumn. They then dry up and hang brown in the tree until spring.
The hornbeam leaf stays on the tree for a long time
A special feature makes the hornbeam a popular hedge plant. The leaves stay on the tree for a very long time. Although they look brown and dried out, they still provide a good privacy screen.
In the dried up leaves overwinter many garden protégés. This fact also makes the hornbeam a valuable garden plant.
The last brown leaves only fall off when the hornbeam sprouts again in early spring. Shiny brown new shoots then appear on which the pale green fresh leaves grow.
Brown leaves on hornbeams
That the hornbeam leaves towards winter Brown become and dry up is a normal process because the hornbeam does not evergreen Tree is.
If the hornbeam turns brown beforehand, you can Fungal diseases be responsible for it.
Hornbeams can withstand dry spells and even floods for a short time. But if the tree is too wet or dry for too long, the leaves also turn brown and dry up prematurely.
Tips
Also the Hornbeam fruit, a nut, is surrounded by a leaf. The cotyledon initially surrounds the fruit and supplies it with nutrients. In autumn the leaf opens and serves as a propeller with which the nut is blown to a place far away from the tree.