1446 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
black jack oak (Quércus nigra var. ferruginea) are the only 
trees to be seen. They survive the conflagrations which 4 
almost every year envelope the prairies; but their vegetation 
is checked by the fire, and they rarely exceed the height of 
8 ft. or 10 ft. (N. Amer. Syl.,i. p. 177.) Of all the hickories, 
this species is of the slowest growth; a fact, Michaux adds, 
that he has proved, by planting nuts of the several species 
together, and comparing the length of their annual shoots. 
It is, also, more liable to be attacked by worms than any 
other kind of hickory; especially by the larva of Callidium 1268 
flexudsum (fig. 1268.), which eats into the body of the tree. 
4 5. C. a’LBa Nutt. The white-nutted Carya, or Shell-bark Hickory. 
Identification. Nutt. Gen. N. Amer. Pl., 2. p. 221. : 
Synonymes. Jvgians 4lba Michz. Fl. Bor. Amer., 2. p.193., Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., 2. p.458., and 
Lin. Sp. Pl., 1415., on Pursh’s citation ; J. alba ovata Marsh. Arb., 115. ; J. squamdsa Michx. Arb., 
1. p. 190., North Amer. Sylva, 1. p. 181.; J. compréssa Gertn. Sem., 2. p. 51., Miihlenb. in Nov. 
‘Act. Soc. Nat. Scrut. Berol., 3. p- 390., Wilid. Sp. Pl., 4. p.458.; Shag-bark Hickory, Scaly-bark 
Hickory, Kisky Thomas Nut, Amer.; Noyer tendre, Idlino?s. 2 
Engravings. Gertn. Sem. 2. t. 19.; Pluk. Alm., t. 309. f. 2.5 Michx. Arb., 1. t. 7.; N. Amer. 
Sylva, 1. t. 36.; Wats. Dend. Brit., t. 148. ; our jig. 1269. ; and the plate of this tree in our last Vol. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaflets, in a leaf, 5—7 ; oblong-acuminate, argutely serrate ; 
villous beneath ; the pair nearest to the base of the petiole rather remote 
from it; terminal leaflet nearly sessile. Catkin glabrous. Fruit depressedly 
globose, with 4 longitudinal furrows, in the line of which the husk divides 
into 4 valves that become wholly separate. Nut compressed, oblique, 
4-angled in its transverse outline, white. Bark exfoliating in long narrow 
strips. (Miche. N. A.S., Pursh Fl. A. S.) _A native of North America, 
in forests where the soil is fertile, from New England to Carolina, and 
throughout the Alleghany Mountains ; and flowering, in America, in April 
and May. Introduced in 1629. 
Description, Sc. This species, Michaux observes, is named shell-bark, shag- 
bark, or scaly-bark, from the striking appearance of its outer bark, which 
peels off in long narrow plates, that curl up at their extremities, and only adhere 
in the middle. Of 
all the hickories, 
this species grows 
to the greatest 
height, with pro- 
portionately the 
smallest diame- 
ter; being some- 
times seen 80 ft. 
or 90 ft. high, 
withatrunk clear 
of branches, and 
not more than 
2 ft. in diameter 
for three fourths of its length. The buds are formed of scales, closely applied 
upon one another; the two external ones adhering, though only half the 
length of the bud; which disposition of the scales is peculiar to C. alba and 
C. sulcata, and seems to indicate, according to Michaux, the exfoliating cha- 
racter of the epidermis of the bark. When the sap begins to ascend in the 
spring, the outer scales fall, and the inner ones swell, and become covered. 
1269 
with a yellow silky down. After a fortnight, the buds attain the length of 2in., . 
and the young leaves are protruded. The growth of the leaves is so rapid, 
that in a month they attain their full length, which, in vigorous trees, is some- 
times above 20 in. They consist of 2 pairs of leaflets, with a sessile odd one. 
The leaflets are very large, oval-acuminate, serrated, and slightly downy under- 
neath. The barren flowers, which, in the state of New York, appear from the 
15th to the 20th of May, are disposed on long, glabrous, filiform, pendulous 
* *, - e 
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