The Trees of Vermont 89 



JUGLANDACEAE 



ritiiiiit 



Carya glabra (Mill.) Spach. [Hicoria glabra (Mill.) Britt.] 

 [Carya porcina Nutt.] 



Habit. — A tree usually 50-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 

 1-3 feet; forming a low, rather narrow, open crown of slender, often 

 contorted branches. 



Leaves. — Alternate, compound, 8-12 inches long. Leaflets usually 

 S-7, the upper 3-6 inches long, 2-2^^ inches broad ; sub-sessile, except 

 the terminal ; oblong to obovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed ; sharply ser- 

 rate ; thick and firm ; glabrous, dark yellow-green above, paler beneath. 

 Petioles long, slender, glabrous or pubescent. Foliage fragrant when 

 crushed. 



Flowers. — May-June, after the leaves ; monoecious : the staminate 

 in pendulous, ternate catkins Z-7 inches long, slender, yellow-green, 

 tomentose ; scales 3-lobed, nearly glabrous ; stamens 4, with orange 

 anthers ; the pistillate in crowded, 2-5-flowered spikes, ^4 i'l^li long ; 

 calyx 4-toothed, hairy; corolla 0; stigmas 2, yellow. 



Fruit. — October; variable in size and shape, 13^-2 inches long, 

 with thin husk splitting half-way and sometimes nearly to the base; nut 

 obscurely 4-ridged, with thin or thick, hard shell and small, svv^eet or 

 slightly bitter kernel which is hard to remove. 



Winter-buds.— Terminal bud /4-/^ hich long, dome-shaped, 

 greenish or grayish, smooth or finely downy. 



Bark.- — Twigs greenish, nearly glabrous, becoming reddish, and 

 finally grayish ; thick, hard and grayish on the trunk, with a firm, close 

 surface divided by small fissures and sometimes broken into plates. 

 Plate IL 



Wood. — Heavy, hard, very strong, tough, close-grained, elastic, 

 dark brown, with thick, whitish sapwood. 



Distribution. — Occurs in the southern portion of Vermont. 



Habitat. — Prefers deep, rich loam, but grows in any well-drained 

 soil ; dry ridges and hillsides. 



Notes. — This is a common tree in the Hoosic valley, Pownal, 

 and a large grove occurs on the shore of Lake Bomoseen, West 

 Castleton (Eggleston). There are a few trees near the Hubbard- 

 ton line in East Castleton (G. H. Ross). In the Connecticut valley it 

 is abundant on the hills near the river in the vicinity of the Massachu- 

 setts line, but is not common above Bellows Falls (Flint). Observers 

 of trees in southern Vermont should strive furtlier to increase om* 

 knowledge of its distribution. 



