164 NUT GROWING 



Carya texana; and water hickory, Carya aquatica. 

 Hickories with scaly bark are found in both open- 

 bud and closed-bud groups. In the open-bud group 

 the water hickory carries long loose bark strips hang- 

 ing to the trunk and in the closed-bud group we find 

 the same characteristic belonging to the shagbark, 

 Carya ovata; and the shellbark, Carya laciniosa, Car- 

 olina hickory, Carya carolina-septentrionalis, and to 

 one of the pignuts, Carya ovalis. That takes us to 

 another question. What do we mean by "pignut" ? 

 In the north this term is applied to Carya glabra and 

 Carya ovalis. In the south it is applied to Carya 

 cordiformis. A name so well established will have 

 to be retained but it will perhaps be best to have an 

 understanding about which one of the hickories is 

 to keep the common name pignut in view of the 

 fact that the pigs themselves give this name to seven- 

 teen kinds of hickories. So long as the name covers 

 two species in the north as opposed to one in the 

 south there are already two votes to one in favor 

 of retaining the name pignut for Carya glabra and 

 Carya ovalis. We may describe these in plain lan- 

 guage as the smooth-bark pignut and the loose-bark 

 pignut. The reason for choosing the name "loose" 

 instead of "scaly" is that we are pretty well agreed 

 upon applying the name "scaly-bark" to the Carolina 

 hickory, the name "shagbark" to Carya ovata, and 

 the name "shellbark" to Carya laciniosa. The name 

 bitternut may be safely allowed to remain with Carya 

 cordiformis because it is surely bitter and because the 

 other two nuts with bitter pellicle already have dis- 



