404 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



MOCKERNUT 

 Big Bud Hickory, White-heart Hickory. 



Carya alba (L.) K. Koch. 

 C. tomentosa Nutt. ; Hickoria alba Britton. 



HABIT A tall tree 50-70 ft. high with trunk diameter of 2-3 ft.; 

 lower branches more or less drooping-, those above ascending at a sharp 

 ang-le, forming a narrow oblong or broad round-topped head, trunk 

 somewhat swollen at base. 



BARK Light to dark gray, not shaggy, broken by irregular inter- 

 rupted fissures into shallow rounded and smooth-topped ridges which 

 are transversely cracked at intervals; the smoothness of the furrows 

 and of the rounded ridges together with the grayness of the bark is 

 quite characteristic, giving an appearance as if the roughness of the 

 bark had been sandpapered down or as if a thin veil had been drawn 

 over the trunk. 



TWIGS Very stout, generally more or less finely-downy, reddish- 

 brown to gray. LENTICELS numerous, pale, conspicuous, longitudin- 

 ally elongated. PITH obscurely 5-pointed, star-shaped. 



L.EAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, similar to those of 

 Shag-bark Hickory but rather tending to be more distinctly 3-lobed with 

 basal lobe elongated. 



BUDS Terminal buds pale, densely hairy, broadly ovate, blunt or 

 sharp-pointed, 10-20 mm. long, outermost scales falling in early autumn, 

 exposing the yellowish-gray silky inner scales, some of which fall 

 during the winter. 



FRUIT Spherical to obovate, 4-6 cm. long, more or less narrowed at 

 the ends; husk 3-4 mm. thick, splitting to middle or nearly to base. 

 NUT brown, variable in size and shape, spherical to oblong, more or 

 less flattened and angled and generally pointed at both ends; shell very 

 thick; seed comparatively small, sweet. 



COMPARISONS T.he Mockermit, so named from the disappointingly 

 small kernel obtained from the relatively large nut, is distinguished 

 by its large, fat, pale, downy buds, which do not retain the outer 

 dark scales as do the narrower buds of the Shag-bark Hickory. The 

 peculiar smoothness of the ridges and furrows of the gray bark is also 

 a distinctive characteristic. 



DISTRIBUTION In various soils; woods, dry, rocky ridges, mountain 

 slopes. Niagara peninsula and westward; south to Florida, ascending 

 3,500 feet in Virginia; west to Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Indian 

 Territory, and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine and Vermont not reported; New Hamp- 

 shire sparingly along the coast; Massachusetts rather common east- 

 ward; Rhode Island common. 



IN CONNECTICUT Occasional or frequent. 



"WOOD Very heavy, hard, tough, strong, close-grained, flexible, rich 

 dark brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; used for the same 

 purpose as that of the Shag-bark Hickory. 



