CHAP. CII. 



JUGLANDA t RiE. C.\ RYA. 



14-45 



at the sutures. Nut with 4 — 6 angles in its transverse outline, having 

 a short capitate beak at the tip. Shell somewhat channeled. {Miclix. 

 N. A.S., Pursh Fl. A.S.) A native of North America, in forests where the 

 soil is fertile, from New England to Virginia, and on the Alleghany Moun- 

 tains. (Piirs/i.) Introduced in ? 1766. 



Varieti/. 



$ C. t. 2 maxima Nutt., Sweat's Hort. Brit., ed. 1830.— Leaflets 7 in a 

 leaf, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrulate; beneath, softly pubescen t, 

 and of a paler colour; terminal leaflet subpetiolate. Fruit partly 

 globose, of nearly twice the size ordinary in the species ; as large as 

 an apple. Husk exceedingly thick. Nut quadrangular, very large, 

 having a thick shell, and a niucro that is prominent, quadrangular, 

 and truncate at the tip. The kind grows a few miles from Phila- 

 delphia. (Xiiti. Gen. iV. Amer. PL, ii. p. 221.) 



Description, ^-c. The mocker-nut hickory, Michaux informs us, is a tree 

 about 60 ft. in height, and 18 in. or 20 in. in diameter. The buds of this 

 species are large, short, of a greyish white, and very hard. In winter, they 

 afford a character- 

 istic by which the ^'^^^ 

 tree is easily dis- i^ 

 tinguishable from 

 all others of the 

 same genus. In 

 the beginning of 

 May, the buds 

 swell, the external 

 scales fail oflT, and 

 the inner ones burst 

 soon after, and dis- 

 play the young 

 leaf. The leaves 

 grow so rapidly, 

 that Michaux has 

 seen them gain 20 

 inches in 18 days. 

 " They are com- 

 posed of 4 pairs of 

 sessile leaflets, ter 

 minated by an odd 

 one. The leaflets 

 are large,ovate-acu- 



minate, serrate, [)retty thick, and hairy underneath, as is the common petiole to 

 which they are attached. With the first frosts, the leaves change to a beautiful 

 yellow, and fall off soon after. The barren flowers appear on pendulous, downy, 

 axillary catkins, 6 in. or 8 in. long; the fertile flowers, which are not very con- 

 spicuous, are of a pale rose colour, and are situated at the extremity of the 

 young shoots." (X. Amer. SijI., i. p. 178.) The fruit is ripe in November, 

 and varies very much in size and shape. The shell is very thick, and ex- 

 tremely hard ; and the kernel, which is sweet, though small', is so difficult to 

 extract, because of the strong partitions which divide it, as to have give;i rise to 

 the name of mocker nut. The trunk of the old trees is covered \vith a thick, 

 hard, rugged bark ; and the wood is remarkable for its strength, tenacity, and 

 durability. The heart-wood of the young trees is white ; and hence the" name 

 of white-heart hickory, by which this tree is known in some parts of America. 

 This tree is found principally in the forests which remain on the coast of the 

 middle states ; but it is rarely found in the Carolinas or Georgia, or north of 

 Portsmouth, in New Hampshire. It is the only hickory which springs in the 

 pine barrens. In these extensive tracts, the mocker-nut hickory and the 



5 B 4 



