BITTERNUT; SWAMP HICKORY (Hicoria minima, Britt) 

 60 to 100 feet. Tall, straight tree with broad, symmetrical 

 head of yellow-brown, pale-dotted twigs, set with slender, 

 yellow, granular buds. Bark close, scaly, red-brown, thin. 

 Limbs smooth. Wood tough, heavy, hard, brown, close- 

 grained, used for ox-yokes, hoops, and fuel. Leaves 6 to 10 

 inches long, of 7 to 11 willow-like, leathery, bright green, pale- 

 lined leaflets, on downy, slender stems. Flowers in May, 

 staminate catkins in 3's, 3 to 4 inches long; pistillate on ter- 

 minal peduncles, 1- to 3-flowered ; with spreading stigmas, green. 

 Fruit globular or pear-shaped, about 1 inch long, often 

 thicker, in thin, golden-scurfy husk, parting along the four 

 winged sutures, sometimes two reaching to base, never all 

 four; shell thin, not ridged, but marked with irregular, dark 

 lines; kernel white, bitter. Dist.: Maine and Ontario to 

 Florida; west to Minnesota and Texas. Valuable shade and 

 ornamental tree. Fastest growing hickory 



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