Japanese name: サワシバ（沢柴） Scientific name:Carpinus cordata var. cordata
[Overview]
A deciduous tree 10–15 m tall, growing in mountain valleys and along streams.
The leaves are simple and alternate in two rows, ovate to oblong, 7–14 cm long and 4–7 cm wide, with a distinctly heart-shaped base.
There are 15–23 pairs of lateral veins.
The leaf margins have irregular fine double serrations.
There are male and female flowers, both borne in catkins, and they open as the leaves unfold.
The male catkins are 5 cm long, borne on the sides of last year's branches and hang down; the female catkins are borne at the tips of new shoots.
The fruit is a nut, 1.8–2.5 cm long, enclosed in an oblong bract.
The bracts have uneven serrations.
The bracts overlap densely like roof tiles and form a fruit cluster.
The fruit cluster is cylindrical, 4–15 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, and hangs down.
The fruit cluster has a stalk 2–4 cm long.
[Uses]
The wood is used for furniture, tools and utensils, and as logs for growing shiitake mushrooms.
