424 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



The fruit bears an external resemblance to that of the 

 shellbark ; but on account of the thickness of the shell, and 

 the difficulty of extracting the kernel, it is considered worth- 

 less. It varies in its shape, size and quality in different trees, 

 which seem to me, in this species, to comprehend the endless 

 varieties of the hickory, that form the connecting links be- 

 tween the shellbark and the pignut. 



The Bitternut [Carya amai^a) has marks which are un- 

 questionably distinctive. The first time I saw this tree I 

 mistook it for an ash, which it strongly resembles in its 

 foliage and its general aspect. But it is easily distinguished 

 by observing that its smaller branches are alternate, while in 

 the ash they are opposite. This tree, however, seldom 

 spreads so much as the ash, nor is it so equally and uniformly 

 subdivided. These points of resemblance to the ash maybe 

 considered the marks that, setting botanical differences aside, 

 chiefly distinguish it from the other hickories. One pecul- 

 iarity in its ramification consists in having its greatest width 

 above the middle of its mass of branches. Its branches are 

 usually less contorted, and its bark is lighter and browner 

 than in the other species, in which it approaches more nearly 

 to a leaden or slate color. 



The leaves of the bitternut are on slender stalks, and ex- 

 ceed the other species in the number of the leaflets, which are 

 from seven to eleven ; but I have seldom met with a tree that 

 had more than seven leaflets on a stem. These are usually 

 small and narrow, not bending the branches down by their 

 own weight so much as in the rest of the genus. The nut 

 of this species is large, with a thin shell and husk, and may 

 be known by the winged projections at the seams. The 

 kernel is very bitter and unpalateable. The wood of the 

 bitternut has the qualities of the other hickories in an inferior 

 degree. 



The general marks by which these different species may be 

 distinguished at a distance may be thus enumerated. The 

 pignut is the tallest in proportion to its width, has the most 

 contortions, and more frequent breaks in its ramification. 

 The bitternut spreads more at the top, its branches are longer 



