Clinton Roush, age 12, of  Ca .

Where does ironwood grow?

The pine is a softwood tree and the walnut is a hardwood tree. There are other trees with wood so hard that it seems natural to call them ironwoods. Almost every continent has a few trees that have been named ironwoods. Some of these world‑wide ironwoods are related to each other and some belong to entirely different plant families.

In North America, the sturdy little mesquite of the southwestern deserts is called an ironwood, East of the Rockies, we have two fairly common trees called ironwoods. One is the blue beech or water beech. It is a slender, moisture‑loving tree with a bumpy, blue‑green bark. The other is the hop hornbeam with delicate large leaves and seeds like dainty clusters of hops. This ironwood is a member of the birch family.