DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 225 



a portion of the Ohio : Michaux states that there is a 

 swamp of 800 acres on the right bank of the Ohio, 

 opposite the Cumberland river, entirely covered w^ith it. 

 It is a handsome, stately tree, about 60 or 70 feet in height, 

 with leaves a foot or eighteen inches long, composed of 

 six or seven pairs of leaflets much narrower than those 

 of our hickories. The nuts are contained in a thin, 

 somewhat four-sided husk; they are about an inch or an 

 inch and a half long, smooth, cylindrical, and thin-shelled. 

 The kernel is not, like most of the hickories, divided by 

 partitions, and it has a very delicate and agreeable flavor. 

 They form an object of petty commerce between Upper 

 and Lower Louisiana. From New Orleans, they are 

 exported to the West Indies, and to the ports of the 

 United States.* 



Besides these two most valuable species, our forests 

 produce the Pignut hickory (C porcina), a lofty tree with 

 five to seven pairs of leaflets, so called from the compara 

 tive worthlessness of its fruit ; which is very thick-shelled, 

 and generally is left on the ground for the swine, squirrels, 

 etc., to devour. It is easily distinguished in winter by the 

 smaller size of its brown shoots, and its small oval buds. 

 Its wood is considered the toughest and strongest of any 

 of the trees of this section. The thick Shellbark hickory 

 (C laciniosa) resembles much in size and appearance the 

 common Shellbark ; but the nuts are double the size, the 

 shell much t^'cker and yellowish, while that of the latter 

 is white. It is but little known except west of the 

 Alleghanies. The Mockernut hickory (O. tomentosa) is 

 so called from the deceptive appearance of the nuts^ 



« N. A. Sylva, i. 168. 

 15 



