JUGLANDACEAE 

 Bittenmt Hickory 



Carya cordiformis (Wang.) K. Koch [Hicoria minima 

 (Marsh.) Britt.] [Carya amara Nutt.] 



HABIT. A tall, slender tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk 

 diameter of i-2 l / 2 feet; forming a broad crown of slender, stiff, 

 upright branches, widest near the top. 



LEAVES. Alternate, compound, 6-10 inches long. Leaflets 

 5-1 1, the upper 4-6 inches long and one-fourth as broad; sessile, 

 except the terminal ; lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed ; 

 coarsely serrate; thin and firm; glabrous, bright green above, 

 paler and more or less downy beneath. Petioles slender, hairy. 

 Foliage fragrant when crushed. 



FLOWERS. May, after the leaves; monoecious; the stam- 

 inate slightly pubescent, in pendulous, ternate catkins 3-4 inches 

 long, on a common peduncle about i inch long; scales 3-lobed, 

 hairy; stamens 4, with bearded, yellow anthers; the pistillate 

 in 2-5-flowered spikes */2 inch long, scurfy-tomentose ; calyx 

 4-lobed, pubescent ; corolla o ; stigmas 2, greenish. 



FRUIT. October; obovate to globular, about i inch long, 

 coated with yellow, scurfy pubescence, with very thin husk split- 

 ting half-way to the base, with sutures winged at the top ; nut 

 quite smooth, with thin shell and small, bitter kernel. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud about 34 inch long, long- 

 pointed, flattish, granular-yellow ; lateral buds more or less 

 4-angled. 



BARK. Twigs greenish and more or less downy, becoming 

 brownish, and finally grayish; gray, -close, smooth on the trunk, 

 often reticulately ridged, but rarely broken into plates. 



WOOD. Heavy, very hard, strong, tough, close-grained, 

 dark brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Of common occurrence in the southern 

 half of the Lower Peninsula. 



HABITAT. Prefers a rich, loamy or gravelly soil; low, wet 

 woods ; along the borders of streams ; but also found on high, 

 dry uplands. 



NOTES. Grows most rapidly of all the hickories, but is apt,> 

 to show dead branches. Should be propagated from the seed, as 

 it is not easily transplanted. 



79 



