﻿Treeii of New York State 151 



JUGLANDACEAE 



Carya microcarpa Nutt. [Hicoria microcarpa (Nutt.) Britt. ; Hicoria glabra, 



var. odorata Sarg.] 



Small -fruited Hickory 



Habit — A tree at maturity attaining a height of 50-80 feet with a trunk 

 diameter of 2-3 feet, under optimum conditions sometimes 100 feet tall. 

 Cro^vTi narrowly oblong with rather short, spreading branches, the lower 

 mostly pendulous. Bole continuous into the crown, sometimes forked. 



Leaves — ^ Alternate, odd-pinnately compound, 8-12 inches long, consisting of 

 5-7 sessile or nearly sessile leaflets arranged in pairs along a stout, 

 smooth, slightly grooved petiole, the terminal leaflet narrowed into a 

 stalk. Leaflets ovate-lanceolate to oblong, 3-5 inches long, 1-2 inches 

 broad, acuminate at the apex, rounded and usually inequilateral at the 

 base, sharply serrate except at the base, at maturity thick, firm, dark 

 yellowish green and shining above, paler and glabrous below. 



Flowers — Appearing in May and June after the unfolding of the leaves, 

 monoecious, the staminate in slender drooping catkins 3-6 inches long 

 which are borne in pedunculate clusters of 3 on the growth of the preced- 

 ing season or rarely at the base of the growth of the season, the pistillate 

 in terminal 2-5-flowered spikes capping the growth of the season, the two 

 sorts proximal. Staminate flower short-pedicellate, somewhat pubescent, 

 about Ys of an inch long, consisting of an ovate-lanceolate bract and two 

 calyx-lobes bearing adaxilly 4 stamens. Pistillate flowers about % of an 

 inch long, sessile, consisting of an inferior, 1-celled ovary surmounted by 

 2 sessile, spreading, yellowish green stigmas. The ovary is invested by 

 the cohering, pale green involucre. 



Fruit — Subglobose, %-l inch long, 4-cha.nneled from apex to base, light 

 bro^\^l and scaly at maturity. Husk thin, tardily splitting. Nut brownish 

 Avhite, thin-shelled, subglobose and often slightly angled, with small, sweet 

 kernel. 



Winter characters — Twdgs rather slender, pale-lenticellate, smooth and lus- 

 trous, light brown turning dark red the second season. Leaf-scars bluntly 

 and inversely triang-ular, the bundle-scars in clusters in the lobes. Termi- 

 nal bud reddish brown and lustrous, ovoid, %-% of an inch long, the 

 scales imbricated and close-fitting. Mature bark thin, at first close and 

 shallowly furrowed, at length shaggy with thin plates. 



Habitat — An upland species preferring the same sites as the Pignut Hickory 

 and usually not distinguished from this species. 



Bange — Central New England west through New York, southern Ontario 

 and Michigan to Iowa, south to Georgia and Missouri. Zones A, B, and C. 



Uses — Wood similar to that of the Pignut Hickory and put to similar uses. 

 Nuts sweet but too small for general commercial exploitation. 



