134 Eleventh Annual Report 



Economic uses. Wood light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, 

 sap wood nearly white, heart wood light brown and takes a good 

 polish. Uses similar to that of a black walnut. The bark of the 

 root is used in medicine as a hepatic stimulant. 



Horticultural value. Adapted to a moist rich soil. When grown 

 in the open it usually develops a short trunk with a wide-spreading 

 top. It is frequently planted along roadsides and on the borders 

 of orchards for its nuts. 



2. HICORIA. The Hickories. 



The range of the hickories is eastern North America from the 

 valley of the St. Lawrence south to Mexico. Trees with strong, 

 elastic and compact wood; bark on old trunks very hard, fissured,, 

 tight or scaly; branches flexible, difficult to break off; leaves gland- 

 ular dotted; leaflets serrate and usually unequal at the base, lowest 

 pair the smallest, upper pair and terminal the largest; fruit sessile 

 or nearly so, a bony nut surrounded by a woody husk which sepa- 

 rates more or less completely into 4 parts. The individuals of the 

 several species vary much in respect to their bark, pubescence of 

 the twigs, number and size of the leaflets and size and shape of the 

 nuts. 



Bud scales 4-6, valvate (in pairs). 



Leaflets 9-17, generally about 13; nut elongated, cir- 

 cular in cross-section, kernel sweet 1 H. Pecan. 



Leaflets 5-9, generally 5-7; nut about as broad as long, 



elliptic in cross-section, kernel bitter 2 H. cordiformis. 



Bud scales more than 6, imbricated (not in pairs). 

 Bark of trees shaggy, separating in long flat plates, at 

 least from about 4 m. (13 feet) above the ground 

 upward. 

 Husk of fruit thick, more than 2.5 mm. (about 3^ 

 inch) thick. 

 Leaflets 3-5, generally 5; shell of nut thin, nut gen- 

 erally less than 3 cm. (1 inch) long, usually 



about 2.5 cm. {J4 inch) long 3 H. ovata. 



Leaflets 5-9, generally 7; shell of nut thick, nut 

 generally more than 3 cm. (about 1 inch) long, 



usually about 4 cm. (114 inches) long 4 H. laciniosa. 



Husk of fruit thin, less than 2.5 mm. (3^ inch) thick. . 5 H. microcarpa. 

 Bark of trunk fissured, not separating in long flat plates. 

 Bark generally light gray, husk thick and freely 

 splitting to the base or nearly so, shell of nut 



thick 6 H. alba. 



Bark generally dark gray, brown or nearly black; 

 husk not very thick, not splitting freely to the 

 base, shell of nut rather thick 7 H. glabra. 



