NUTMEG HICKORY (Hicoria myristicaeformis, Britt.)- 80 

 to 100 feet. Tall, straight tree with narrow, open head of 

 stout branches, ending in slender twigs coated with shining 

 golden scales. Bark brown, irregularly broken into thin, close 

 scales. Wood light brown, very strong, tough, hard, used for 

 lumber and fuel. Leaves 7 to 15 inches long, of 5 to 11 leaflets, 

 saw-toothed, thin, dark green above, silvery white and lustrous 

 beneath, with pale, scurfy midribs, turning in autumn to 

 bronzy brown. Flowers scurfy pubescent, brown, catkins in 

 3's, axillary; pistil clusters terminal, few-flowered. Fruit 

 solitary, rounded nut, 1 inch long, pointed at both ends, in 

 thin, scurfy husk with 4-winged sutures that open almost to 

 the base; kernel sweet, small, brown, in thick shell. Dist.: 

 Rich, moist river banks and swamps, South Carolina coast 

 westward to central Mississippi and southern Arkansas. Beau* 

 tiful ornamental tree, hardy in Washington, D. C. 



46 



