THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES 



wood burns with such brilliancy or gives out so 

 much heat as the shagbark. The fruit of this 

 tree is edible and sweet, and the nuts have 

 greater commercial value than those of any 

 other hickory. 



The former name, hicoria, was of Indian ori- 

 gin and came from powcohicora, the name of 

 an oily emulsion made from the pounded ker- 

 nels of mockernuts by the Virginian Algonkins. 

 Ovata (egg-shaped) refers to the shape of the 

 leaves. 



The shagbark is found from Southern Maine 

 to Florida and westward to Central Kansas. 

 The forests of Indiana, once the centre of the 

 hickory trade, are now exhausted. The hick- 

 ories are confined to Eastern North America 

 alone, and are a genus of rare and very valu- 

 able trees. 



A tall tree 60 to 100 let 



Mockernut; or 

 Whiteheart with a lofty head. Bark smooth, 

 Hickory with close, wavy furrows, a 



Gary a alba J ' 



distinctive characteristic of the 

 tree. Large, hard, round buds, without the dark 

 outer scales peculiar to the shagbark, but with 

 downy, yellowish brown scales. Coarse twigs; 

 alternate leaf-scars. Nut somewhat hexagonal, 

 with a very thick shell, and a hard, thick husk. 

 The mockernut is one of the most interest- 

 Si 



