﻿Trees of New York Staie 155 



JUGLANDAGEAE 



Carya conliforniis (Wang.) K. Koch. [Hicoria minima (Marsh.) Britt. ; 



Carya amara Nutt.] 



Bitternut 



Habit — A tree 40-75 feet in height Avith a trunk diameter of 1-2% feet, 

 under optimum conditions in the southern part of its range sometimes 

 attaining a height of 100 feet with a tall, straight, clean trunk. Crown 

 round-topped, broadest near the top, consisting of rather slender, stiff, 

 upright, ascending branches, under forest conditions usually much 

 restricted in size. 



Leaves — Alternate, odd-pinnately compound, 6-10 inches long, consisting of 

 5-9 sessile leatietes arranged in pairs along a slender, pubescent, slightly 

 grooved petiole, the terminal leailct narrowed into a stalk. Leaflets 

 lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-6 inches long, ^-l^/i inches wide, acumi- 

 nate at the apex, rounded or subcordate and usually inequilateral at the 

 base, rather coarsely serrate except at the base, at maturity thin, firm, 

 dark yello^vish green and glabrous above, paler, often yellow glandular 

 and glabrous or somewhat pubescent below. 



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

 monoecious, the staminate in slender, drooping catkins 3-4 inches long 

 which are borne in clusters of 3 on the growth of the preceding season 

 or rarely at the base of the growth of the season, the pistillate in ter- 

 minal, 2-10-flowered spikes capping the growth of the season, the two 

 sorts proximal. Staminate flowers short pedicellate, somewhat pubescent, 

 about 1/10 of an inch long, consisting of a rufous, ovate, acute bract and 

 2 calyx-lobes of the same color bearing adaxilly 4 st-amens. Anthers 

 yellow, ovate, short-stalked. Pistillate flowers about I/2 an inch long, 

 sessile, consisting of an inferior 1 -celled ovary surmounted by 2 sessile, 

 spreading, pale green stigmas, papillate on the stigmatic surface. The 

 ovar\- is invested by a perianth-like, cohering, slightly 4-ridged, yellowish 

 green involucre. 



Pruit — Ovate or subglobose, %-l % inches long, 4-AA'inged along the sutures 

 from the apex half way to the base, greenish yellow, scurfy and pubescent. 

 Husk thin. Xut thin-shelled, as broad or broader than long, smooth, 

 abruptly pointed, with reddish bro\\Ti, very bitter kernel. 



Winter characters — Twigs slender, lenticellate, glossy, often yellow glandu- 

 lar and hairy toward the apex but smooth below, grayish or orange- 

 broA^-n during the first winter, at length light gray. Pith brown, angular. 

 Leaf-scars elevated, obcordate, with 3 groups of bundle-scars. Terminal 

 bud yellow, oblique and blunt at the apex, %-% of an inch long, con- 

 sisting of 4 glandular scales valvate in pairs. Lateral buds smaller, some- 

 what 4-angled, superposed, Vs-% of an inch long, the lowest or axillary 

 bud sessile and sharp-pointed, the upper pedunculate and angular. ^Mature 

 bark light gray, %-% of an inch thick, close, A^th shallow fissures 

 and narrow ridges, the surface peeling in small flakes. 



Habitat — By preference a bottom-land tree growing on low, wet sites in 

 pastures, fields, along sluggish streams, and in lowland deciduous for- 

 ests. Occasionally found in hilly situations, on limestone outcroppings, 

 and mountain slopes. 



Bange — Southern Quebec and Ontario, Maine to southern ^Minnesota, south 

 into the Gulf States. Zones B and C. 



Uses — A valuable timber species contributing a part of the hickory wood of 

 commerce. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, elastic, close-grained, dark 

 brown AAdth paler sapwood. Valued for wagon and automobile wheels, 

 wagon tongues, whippletrees, tool handles, etc. Nuts bitter, not edible. 



