DENDROLOGY. 183 



exposed to a long inundation. This tree is met with in the 

 Western country, and with the exception of Vermont, New 

 Hampshire and the state of Maine, of the Genessee Country, 

 and of the cold and mountainous tracts along the whole range of 

 the Alleghanies, this tree is more or less abundant in the forests 

 throughout the United States. 



The pignut hickory is one of the largest trees of the American 



forest. It grows to the height of 70 or 80 feet, with a diameter 



of 3 or 4 feet. In the winter when stript of its leaves, it is easily 



known by the shoots of the preceding summer, which are brown, 



less than half as large as those of the mockernut and shellbark 



hickories, and terminated by small, naked buds. At this season, 



it is easy, also to distinguish the bitternut hickory, by its naked 



and yellow buds. The buds of this species, as in the other 



hickories of this kind, are more than an inch in length, a 



few days before their unfolding. The inner scales are the 



largest and of a reddish color. They do not fall till the leaves 



are five or six inches long. The leaves are compound, and vary 



in size and in number of leaflets, according to the moisture and 



fertility of the soil. In rich grounds, they afe eighteen inches 



long ; and the complete number of leaflets is three pair with an 



odd one. The leaflets are four or five inches long, acuminate, 



serrate, nearly sessile, and glabrous or smooth on both sides. 



On vigorous trees, which grow in shady exposures, the petiole is 



of a violet color. The barren aments are smooth, filiform, 



flexible and pendulous : they are two inches long, and in their 



arrangement, resemble those of the other hickories. The fertile 



flowers are greenish, not very conspicuous, and situated at the 



extremity of the shoot : the fruit succeeds them in pairs as often 



as single. The husk is thin and of a beautiful green : when 



ripe, it opens through half its length, for the passage of the nut. 



The nut is small, smooth, and very hard on account of the 



thickness of the shell. Its kernel is sweet but meagre and 



difficult to extract, from the firmness of the partitions. The 



form and size of these nuts vary more than in any other species. 



Some are oval, and when covered with their husks, resemble 



young figs ; others are broader than they are long, and others 



