40 TREES 



The Mockernut 



H, alba, Britt. 



The mockernut is a mockery to him who hopes for nuts 

 like those of either shagbark. The husk is often three 

 inches long. Inside is a good-sized nut, angled above the 

 middle, suggesting the shagbark. But what a thick, ob- 

 stinate shell, when one attempts to "break and enter!" 

 And what a trifling, insipid meat one finds, to repay the 

 effort! Quite often there is nothing but a spongy remnant 

 or the shell is empty. {See illustration, 'page 7.) 



As a shade tree, the mockernut has real value, showing 

 in winter a tall, slender pyramidal form, with large termi- 

 nal buds tipping the velvety, resinous twigs. The bark is 

 smooth as that of an ash, with shallow, wavy furrows, as if 

 surfaced with a silky layer of new healing tissue, thrown up 

 to fill up all depressions. Mockernut leaves are large, 

 downy, yellow-green, turning to gold in autumn. Crushed 

 they give out an aroma suggesting a delicate perfume. 



The flowers are abundant, and yet the most surprising 

 show of colors on this tree comes in late April, when the 

 great buds swell. The outer scales fall, and the inner ones 

 expand into ruddy silken sheathes that stand erect around 

 the central cluster of leaves, not yet awake, and every 

 branch seems to hold up a great red tulip! The sight is 

 wonderful. Nothing looks more flower-like than these 

 opening hickory buds, and to the unobserving passerby 

 the transformation is nothing short of a miracle. In a day, 

 the leaves rise and spread their delicate leaflets, lengthen- 

 ing and becoming smooth, as the now useless red scales 

 fall in a shower to the ground. 



