THE WALNUT FAMILY. 103 



sessile with the exception of the terminal one, and ovate-lanceolate in 

 outline. At maturity they are bright green above, paler below, smooth and 

 lustrous on both sides. The husks of the fruit are almost globose, relatively 

 thin, and when ripe split in four sections to nearly the base. 



H. glabra, pignut or broom hickory, is an especially well known tree ; for 

 who, when it is in fruit, has not at some time confused its nuts with those 

 of the faithful old shag-bark and learned by experience the lesson of their 

 differences, those of the unfortunate pignut being so bitter and astringent 

 as not to be edible. The tree is perhaps the most prominent of the group 

 of so-called tiiin-shelled hickories. Its fruit is thin-shelled, smooth, with- 

 out ridges and tapers to a point at the apex. The husks, also smooth, split 

 open when ripe, but only to about their middle. The leaves have from three 

 to seven oblong, or lanceolate and smooth leaflets. 



H. minima, swamp hickory, or bitternut, a light slender tree of usually 

 beautiful proportions, bears from seven to nine lanceolate leaflets and thin 

 shelled, smooth nuts which end abruptly in short points. Their seeds are in- 

 tensely bitter. 



H. villosa, {Plate XXXV T), is one of the common hickories of the 

 southern Alleghanies, its range extending from Missouri to Alabama and 

 Georgia. This tree in Missouri, however, was regarded by Professor Sar- 

 gent at one time as being simply a variety of the pignut, Hicoria glabra. 

 Over its leaves there is a downy pubescence which on its leaf-stalks takes a 

 decided tufted character. The shells of the nuts are thick, the kernels 

 sweet, and as has been observed by Professor Sargent, the tree bears " re- 

 markably small buds." 



//. aqudtica, water hickory or bitter pecan, with its nine to thirteen lanceo- 

 late leaflets, shows sometimes the unusual feature of their curving in crescent, 

 or scythe-like shapes. The fruit's husk is ovate, angled, somewhat flattened, 

 and almost smooth. When opened it is found that the nut's shell is thin 

 and rough. It is also four-angled. The kernel is intensely bitter and when 

 eaten greatly puckers the mouth. 



H. Pectin, the pecan which within our range is a native, prefers to grow in 

 moist soil, usually that along the stream's bank. At most it attains a height 

 of one hundred and seventy feet and is slender and graceful with a bold 

 and handsome crown. Its leaves bear from eleven to fifteen oblong- 

 lanceolate leaflets, with very short petiolules, and on their undersides there 

 are still at maturity traces of an early, rusty pubescence. The smooth, oblong- 

 cylindric nuts, enclosing their delicious meat are the ones so well known in 

 the market. Yearly the demand for them is greater than the supply, and so 

 of late some attention has been given to planting the trees in groves as a 

 source of profit. P>ut he of the lowlands with perhaps six or eight of them 



