300 CARYA 



winter buds. There is a fine tree at Bute House, Petersham, which, when I 

 saw it a few years ago, was nearly 80 ft. high. 



C. OLIV^EFORMIS, Nuttall. PECAN. 

 (Hicoria Pecan, Britton?) 



But little need be said of this tree, for it is ill adapted to our climate. 

 Many times introduced to Kew, it usually lives only a few years. Young trees 

 will make growths 12 or 15 ins. long during the summer, but so badly ripened 

 are they that unless the winter be very mild they are regularly cut back almost 

 to the old wood. This renders them an easy prey to fungoid parasites, 

 usually the " coral-spot " fungus, and makes the species not worth cultivation. 

 It is a native of the south-east and south Central United States, and is 

 the most important of the hickories as a nut-bearing tree. It grows consider- 

 ably over loo ft. high, and is distinct from all the cultivated species in 

 the large number of leaflets usually eleven to fifteen on each leaf. These 

 are 2 to 6 ins. long (sometimes more), curved like a scimitar, pointed, 

 toothed. Fruits clustered, each I to 2^ ins. long, about half as wide, oblong, 

 pointed ; the nut has a sweet-flavoured kernel. Perhaps the finest tree 

 in Europe is in the Botanic Garden at Padua about 100 ft. high. 



C. PORCINA, Nuttall. PIG NUT. 



(Hicoria glabra, Britton?) 



A tree So to 90 ft. high, with grey, fissured bark ; young shoots smooth. 

 Leaves 8 to 12 ins. long, composed of five or seven leaflets, the basal ones 

 of which are ovate-lanceolate, the terminal ones much larger and more 

 or less -obovate ; all taper-pointed, rounded or tapering at the base, sharply 

 toothed ; both surfaces smooth except for some down along the midrib 

 and veins, which mostly falls away by autumn. The large terminal leaflets 

 are 5 to 7 ins. long, and 2 to 3 ins. wide, the lowest pair about one-third 

 the size ; common stalk smooth. Male catkins 3 to 5 ins. long, slightly 

 scurfy. Fruit variable in shape and size, mostly rounded or pear-shaped, 

 flattened or even sunk at the apex. Kernel of nut astringent. 



Native of Eastern N. America, as far to the north as Maine ; introduced 

 in 1799. The pig nut thrives very well in England. There is a specimen 

 nearly 80 ft. high at Kew which often bears good crops of fruit. 



Var. MICROCARPA, Trelease^ has a more shaggy bark and smaller fruit, 

 with a sweet kernel. 



C. SULCATA, Nuttall. BIG SHELL-BARK. 



(Hicoria laciniosa, Sargent.') 



A tree 100 to 120 ft. high ; bark separating from the trunk into broad 

 plates often 3 or 4 ft. long ; young shoots at first downy ; terminal winter 

 bud i in. long. Leaves 12 to 22 ins. long, composed of usually seven, 

 sometimes nine, leaflets, the terminal ones of which are obovate, 4 to 8 

 ins. long, i^ to i\ ins. wide, the lower ones ovate and only one-third or 

 one-fourth the size ; all long and slender-pointed, toothed ; smooth and 

 glossy above, downy beneath. Male catkins 4 ins. or more long. Fruit 

 oblong, 2^ ins. long, 2 ins. wide ; nut prominently four- or six-ridged. 



Native of the eastern United States from New York and E. Pennsylvania 

 southwards ; introduced to England in 1804. It is one of the least 



