IV. 2. THE HICKORY. 191 



3. The Pignut, with three, five, or seven narrow leaflets, 

 small, thin-shelled fruit, and a pretty hard nut ; and 



4. The Bitternut, with seven, nine, or eleven small, narrow, 

 serrated leaves, small fruit, with long prominent seams, bitter 

 and thin-shelled nut, and very yellow buds. 



Sp. 1. Shellbark Hickory. Carya alba. A. Michaux. 



Leaf, fruit, and female ament figured in Michaux, Sylva, I, Plate 36, and in 



Plate 12 of this volume. 



This tree is almost every where in Massachusetts known by 

 the descriptive name of the shagbark, or shellbark, a name 

 likely to be retained. It is the only one of the hickories which 

 is not constantly confounded with some other. It may be read- 

 ily distinguished by the shaggy bark of its trunk, the excellence 

 of its globular fruit, its leaves, which are large and have live 

 leaflets, and by its ovate, half-covered buds. 



The shellbark hickory is found in the county of York, in 

 Maine, twenty-five mites east of Portsmouth, N. H. This is 

 the most northerly point at which I have observed it, and there 

 it is rare, and a small tree, but matures fruit of a fine quality. 

 It occurs thence southward through the Middle and Southern 

 States, as far as Carolina, and is found in the Western States. 



It flourishes in nearly every part of Massachusetts, except 

 the southeastern counties. In the maritime districts, and in 

 sandy soils, it is rarely found. It is most abundant in the neigh- 

 borhood of Boston, and in Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester 

 counties. 



It grows best in a rich, moist soil, and produces its fruit most 

 abundantly when growing by itself on the border of cultivated 

 land, or on the edge of a forest. In such situations, a single tree 

 sometimes bears several bushels of nuts. 



The shellbark is a tall and stately tree, rising sometimes to 

 the height of seventy or eighty feet, with a diameter seldom ex- 

 ceeding two feet. The branches are irregular and scattered, 

 often numerous, but not large, and where the tree is left stand- 

 ing, after the other trees of the forest in which it had attained 

 its height, have been felled, it has a long and shapely, cylindri- 



