SEPTEMBER. 423 



shape and size, though commonly Jig-- shaped. This epithet 

 (ficiformis) has been applied to the species ; and it seems to 

 me highly probable that its customary name pignut may 

 have been a corruption of figmif, which is a more agreeable 

 appellation, and ought to be restored. The kernel of the nut 

 is small, extracted with difficulty, and inferior in flavor to 

 that of the shellbark. The pignut appears to be the most 

 common species in this part of the country. It attains com- 

 paratively a great height, rising sometimes as high as sixty or 

 seventy feet. In its shape it has more of the characteristic 

 points of the hickory genus than any of the other species, 

 having less spread than the shellbark, and less gracefulness 

 than the bitternut. 



When divested of its foliage, this species is distinguished 

 by the comparative slenderness of its recent shoots, the ^mall 

 size of its oval buds, and the shortness of its lateral branches. 

 Its autumnal tints are of a deep yellow, gradually fading to 

 russet. The fruit, which is often produced in clusters, com- 

 monly remains on the branches after the fall of the leaves. 

 The wood of the pignut is cleft with more difficulty than 

 that of the other hickories, a quality that increases its value 

 for many important purposes. 



The Mockerniit (Carya tomentosa) has a great resem- 

 blance to the shellbark, in its general habit of growth, in the 

 large size of its leaves, and in the qualities of its wood. It 

 differs from it in having a greater number of leaflets, and in 

 the strong balsamic odor emitted from its buds, husks and 

 foliage ; though in this last respect it is not sensibly unlike 

 the pignut. It has the largest foliage of any of the hickories, 

 resembling the shellbark in its ramification, and the pignut in 

 its bark and trunk. This, like all the other species, throws 

 out its branches at first very obliquely from the shaft, but 

 they commonly bend downwards as the tree increases in size, 

 and acquire an irregular and contorted appearance. This 

 habit seems to be the eff"ect of the heaviness of their foliage, 

 and is therefore less apparent in the bitternut, which has 

 foliage of a lighter description. It does not seem to be owing 

 to the weight of the fruit, as in the pear tree, since it may be 

 observed in trees that have not yet produced fruit. 



