56 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Bark. Bark of trunk gray, close, smooth, rarely flaking off 

 in thin plates ; branches and branchlets smooth ; leaf -scars 

 prominent; season's shoots yellow, smooth, yellow-dotted. 



Winter Buds and Leaves. Terminal buds long, yellow, flat- 

 tish, often scythe-shaped, pointed, with a granulated surface ; 

 lateral buds much smaller, often ovate or rounded, pointed. 

 Leaves pinnately compound, alternate, 12-15 inches long ; 

 rachis somewhat enlarged at base ; stipules none ; leaflets 

 5-11, opposite, 5-6 inches long, 1-2 inches wide, bright 

 green and smooth above, paler and smooth or somewhat 

 downy beneath, turning to orange yellow in autumn ; outline 

 lanceolate, or narrowly oval to oblong-obovate, serrate ; apex 

 taper-pointed to scarcely acute ; base obtuse or rounded except 

 that of the terminal leaflet, which is acute ; sessile and ine- 

 quilateral, except in terminal leaflet, which has a short stem 

 and is equal- sided ; sometimes scarcely distinguishable from 

 the leaves of C. porcina ; often decreasing regularly in size 

 from the upper to the lower pair. 



Inflorescence. May. Sterile and fertile flowers on the same 

 tree, appearing when the leaves are fully grown, sterile at the 

 base of the season's shoots, or sometimes from the lateral buds 

 of the preceding season, in slender, pendulous catkins, 3-4 

 inches long, usually in threes, branching umbel-like from a 

 common peduncle ; scale 3-lobed, hairy -glandular, middle lobe 

 about the same length as the other two but narrower, con- 

 siderably longer toward the end of the catkin ; stamens mostly 

 5, anthers bearded at the tip : fertile flowers on peduncles at 

 the end of the season's shoots ; calyx 4-lobed, pubescent, 

 adherent to the ovary ; corolla none ; stigmas 2. 



Fruit. October. Single or in twos or threes at the ends 

 of the branchlets, abundant, usually rather small, about 1 inch 

 long, the width greater than the length ; occasionally larger 

 and somewhat pear-shaped : husk separating about to the 

 middle into four segments, with sutures prominently winged at 

 the top or almost to the base, or nearly wingless : nut usually 

 thin-shelled : kernel white, sweetish at first, at length bitter. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 grows almost anywhere, but prefers a rich, loamy or gravelly 



