228 



The Hickories 



what shining, and hain- along the veins beneath. The staminate catkins are in 

 clusters of 3, stout-stalked, hairy, 7 to 10 cm. long, the bracts linear, about as long 

 as the lobes of the perianth; stamens 6, their anthers oblong, shghtly notched, light 

 yellow. The pistillate flowers are oblong, 4-angled, glandular and hairy. The 

 fruit is clustered, oblong, 2 to 3.5 cm. long, compressed, dark brown, its husk 

 ver\^ thin, tardily 4-valved to about the middle; nut oblong, flattened, 4-angled, 

 pointed and corrugated, reddish brown, the wall and partition thin; the seed is 

 oblong, 2-lobed above the middle, irregularly grooved and very bitter. 



The wood is strong, rather soft and brittle, close-grained, dark brown; its 

 specific gravity is about 0.74. It is little used except for fuel. 



The Water hickory has not been successfully cultivated for ornament. 



5. BITTER NUT Hicoria cordiformis (Wangenheim) Britton 



Juglans alba minima Marshall. Juglans cordiformis Wangenheim. Carya amara 

 Nuttall. Hicoria minima Britton. Carya cordiformis K. Koch 



V 



The Bitter nut occurs in swamps and on hillsides from Quebec to Minnesota 

 southward to Florida and Texas, attaining a maximum height of 30 meters, with a 

 trunk diameter of i m. It is also called Bittemut hickor}% Bitter pignut, Bitter 

 hickory, Bitter walnut, Pig walnut, and White hickor}\ 



The trunk is slender, tall and straight, its branches rather stout and some- 

 times widely spreading. The bark is 8 to 18 mm. thick, shallowly fissured into 



flat ridges of a light reddish brown color. 

 The twigs are slender, bright green and some- 

 what hairy, soon becoming smooth or nearly 

 so, reddish or yellowish brown and shining, 

 finally gray and bearing many pale lenticels 

 and leaf scars; the terminal buds are ovoid, 8 

 to 15 mm. long, flattened, obliquely blunt- 

 pointed and protected by 4 valvate, yellowish, 

 hairy, glandular scales; the lateral buds are 

 much smaller and compressed, somewhat angu- 

 lar, sessile or stalked. The leaves are 1.5 to 3 

 dm. long, the leaf-stalk slender, slightly 

 grooved, and hair\'; the leaflets, the smallest 

 of which are at the base, are 5 to 9 in number, 

 lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, shghtly curved 

 but quite equal at the rounded or tapering sessile 

 base, long taper-pointed, and margined with 

 coarse, thick-pointed teeth ; the terminal leaflet is sometimes stalked ; they are yel- 

 lowish green or reddish and glandular when unfolding, becoming thin but firm, 

 yellowish green and smooth above, pale hair}^ and often glandular with prominent 

 venation beneath. The staminate catkins are in stalked clusters of 3; they are 



Fig. 186. Bitter Nut. 



