274 TREES IN WINTER 



BITTERNUT 



Swamp Hickory. 



Carya cordiformis (Wang.) K. Koch. 



C. amara Nutt. ; Hickoria minima (Marsh.) Britton. 



HABIT — A tall tree 50-75 ft. in height, with a trunk diameter of 

 1-21^ ft.; trunk generally early developing- several stout ascending 

 and somewhat diverging branches to form a broad spreading head 

 generally widest toward the top. 



BARK — Thin, light gray, close, with shallow fissures and narrow 

 ridges rarely flaking off in small, thin scales. 



TAVIGS — Slender, buff or gray or reddish, smooth or slightly downy 

 toward apex, generally yellow-glandular above. LENTICELS — more or 

 less distinct, pale, numerous, longitudinally elongated. PITH — infre- 

 quently star-shaped, brown. 



LEAP-SCARS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, obscurely 3-lobed, 

 heart-shaped, inversely triangular to eliptical, pale, raised, large, 

 prominent, the upper margin generally rounded, convex to sharp- 

 pointed, often 2-toothed at apex. BUNDLE-SCARS — prominent, irreg- 

 larly scattered or collected into 3 more or less regular groups or 

 sometimes apparently in single curved line. 



BUDS — Slender, strikingly yellow with crowded glandular dots, 

 slightly hairy between the scales; terminal bud 5-15 mm. long, flattened, 

 obliquely blunt-pointed; lateral buds more or less 4-angled, the axillary 

 bud generally minute with one or more larger superposed buds above 

 it, often considerably separated from each other, the uppermost of the 

 series stalked or developing into a twig the first season. BUD- 

 SCALES — 4, valvate in pairs. 



FRUIT — Nearly spherical to pear-shaped, 2-3.5 cm. long, generally 

 4-winged from the apex to about the middle, husk about 1 mm. 

 thick, yellow glandular-dotted, tardily splitting to about the middle 

 into 4 valves. NUT — usually thin-shelled, sometimes broader than 

 long, smooth, short-pointed; seed deeply and irregularly roughened, 

 sweetish at first, becoming intensely bitter. 



COMPARISONS — The Bitternut will not be confused with any other 

 tree if due notice is taken of the narrow bright yellow, glandular- 

 dotted often superposed buds. The Butternut has superposed buds but 

 they are pale greenish-yellow and very downy, not bright yellow nor 

 glandular dotted and the pith though similarly brown is distinctly 

 chambered. 



DISTRIBUTION — In varying soils and situations; wet woods, low, 

 damp fields, river valleys, along roadsides, occasional upon uplands 

 and hill slopes. From Montreal west to Georgian bay; south to Florida, 

 ascending 3,500 feet in Virginia; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, 

 Oklahoma, and Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND — Maine — southward, rare; New Hampshire — 

 eastern limit in the Connecticut valley, where it ranges farther north 

 than any other of our Hickories, reaching Well's river; Vermont- 

 occasional west of the Green mountains and in the southern Connecti- 

 cut valley; Massachusetts — rather common, abundant in the vicinity 

 of Boston; Connecticut — occasional; Rhode Island — common. 



XVOOD — Heavy, very hard, strong, tough, close-grained, dark brown, 

 with thick light brown or often nearly white sapwood; largely used 

 for hoops and ox-yokes and for fuel. 



