DENDROLOGY. 17 i 



of 10 or 12 feet. It attains these dimensions only in spots where 

 the soil is excellent, constantly cool, and often inundated by 

 creeks and rivers. It is probably because it thrives most in such 

 situations, that it is sometimes called Swamp Hickory. Of all the 

 hickories the vegetation of this species is the latest ; the leaves 

 do not unfold until a fortnight after the others. On flourishing 

 trees at an age to bear fruit, they are twelve or fifteen inches in 

 length and nearly as much in breadth ; the size, as in other 

 vegetables, varies according to the nature of the soil, and the 

 situation of the leaf upon a lower or an upper branch. Each 

 leaf is composed of three or four pair of leaflets, and terminated 

 by an odd one, which is larger than the preceding pair. The 

 leaflets are about six inches in length, and an inch in breadth, 

 sessile, oval-acuminate, deeply toothed, smooth and of a pretty 

 dark green. When the tree has shed its leaves, it may still be 

 distinguished by its yellow and naked buds. In Pennsylvania 

 and New Jersey, this tree blooms about the last of May. The 

 peduncles of the barren flowers are in pairs, each supporting 

 three flexible and pendulous aments : they are attached at the 

 basis of the shoots of the same season, while the fertile aments, 

 which are not conspicuous, are placed at the extremity. The 

 fruit is ripe about the beginning of October ; the husk is thin, 

 fleshy and surmounted on its upper half by four appendages in 

 the form of wings. It never becomes ligneous, like those of the 

 other hickories, but softens and decays. The form of the nut of 

 this species is more constant and more regular than in the others 

 It is broader than it is long, being six or seven lines one way 

 and ten lines the other. The shell is white, smooth and thin 

 enough to be broken by the fingers. The kernel is remarkable 

 for the deep inequalities produced on every side by its foldings. 

 It is so harsh and bitter, that squirrels and other animals will not 

 feed upon it, while any other nut is to be found. 



In the texture of its bark, and in the color of its heart and sap, 

 this tree resembles the other hickories, and its wood possesses, 

 though in an inferior degree, the weight, strength, tenacity and 

 elasticity, which so plainly distinguish them. It is used for fuel, 

 but it is not much superior to white oak. In some parts of 



