90 ECOXOAIIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA 



edible nuts. For notes on other economic properties see C. F. 

 Hatch in bibhography. 



The following species are the most easily recognized in Ala- 

 bama. Information about a few others can be found in Mohr's 

 Plant Life, and in manuals of North American trees or of south- 

 eastern plants. 



Hicoria Pecan (Marsh.) Britton. (Carya oUvacfonnis, Nutt.) 



Pecan. 



(Figs. 33, 33) 



Chiefly noted for its edible nuts, of which several varieties 

 have been developed in cultivation. (See "Nut culture in the 

 United States", a lii-page illustrated report published by the 

 Division of Pomology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 

 1896, and the paper by Dr. R. H. True cited in the bibliography 

 of the present report.) A few wild hybrids between this and 

 regular hickories have been reported. 



The principal distribution of this species is from Indiana to 

 Iowa and Texas, in alluvial soils, and it is rare or unknown in the 

 wild state even in Tennessee and Mississippi. But there are a 

 few old trees with rather small nuts in calcareous soils in the black 

 belt north and west of Uniontown, which are said to have been 

 there when the first settlers came, and are therefore presumably 

 indigenous.* (Dr. Mohr reported it from near Demopolis, Gallion 

 and Uniontown, all in the black belt.) That sounds reasonable, but 

 it is difficult to get any other evidence on the subject, for the trees 

 are now standing in fields, and all their original associates have 

 been destroyed. It is cultivated in the same neighborhood, and in 

 many other parts of the state. 



Hicoria myristicaeformis (Mx.) Britton. (Nutmeg Hickory) 



The nuts of this tree are not considered edible, but its wood is 

 probably as good as that of other hickories. It is too rare to be of 

 any economic importance, though. 



*See Mohr 15 in bibliography, also pages 100-101 and 462 of his Plant 

 Life of Alabama. The writer visited some of these trees in company with 

 the state forester in September, 1924, when the accompanying pictures were 

 taken. 



