Pale Hickory 



229 



7.5 to 10 cm. long; bract ovate, pointed, twice the length of the lobes of the 

 perianth, which are almost equal; stamens 4, their anthers ovate, deeply notched 

 at the top and yellow. The pistillate flowers are blunt, 4-angled, about 12 mm. 

 long, curved, scurfy hairy. The fruit is subglobose, 2 to 3.5 cm. long, narrowly 

 4- winged for about half its length, with yellowish and scurfy hairs; its husk is 

 about 3 mm. thick, tardily and irregularly 4-valved; nut ovoid or oblong, slightly 

 flattened, short-pointed, smooth, grayish, the shell thin; seed ver}^ bitter, deeply 

 2-lobed, reddish brown. 



The wood is hard, close-grained, strong and tough, dark brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.75. It is largely used for fuel, hoops, tool handles and other 

 purposes. 



This is a handsome tree and probably the most rapid growing of the hickories, 

 holding its foliage long after that of the others has fallen, and deserves wider use 

 in ornamental planting. 



6. PALE HICKORY Hicoria palUda Ashe 

 Hicoria villosa pallida Ashe 



This tree occurs in dry soils from southern Virginia and Tennessee south to 

 Florida and Alabama, reaching a height 

 of about 30 meters, with a trunk diame- 

 ter of I m. 



The trunk and its branches resemble 

 the Pignut. The bark is deeply fur- 

 rowed into rough ridges of a gray color. 

 The twigs are purple-brown. The ter- 

 minal bud is ovoid, 5 to 7 mm. long, 

 dark brown and hair}^ with 5 to 9 scales, 

 the lateral buds being ver}- small. The 

 leaves are scurfy hairy, 1.5 to 2.5 

 dm. long, the leaf-stalk slender, hairy, 

 at least when young. Leaflets 7 to 9, 

 lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, shghtly 

 curved, 5 to 15 cm. long, the lower pair 

 much the smallest, long taper-pointed 

 at the apex, rounded and unequal at 

 the sessile base, closely toothed on the 

 margin; the terminal leaflet is about 



Fig. 187. Pale Hickon\ 



the same size as the upper pair, tapering to a short, shghtly winged stalk ; they are 

 silvery scaly beneath, becoming firm, smooth or nearly so wiien mature, dark green 

 above, paler, often yellowish with prominent yellow veins beneath. The stami- 

 nate catkins are in stalked clusters of 3, 8 to 20 cm. long and slender, the bract 

 of the perianth hnear, considerably longer than the rounded lateral lobes. 



