WALNUT FAMILY 



shells and all, into mortars, mingling water with them, with long wooden pestells 

 pound them so long together untill they make a kind of mylke, or oylie liquor, 

 which they call powcohicora. 



— Historic of Travaile into Virginia Britannia. 



The Hickories, of wliich there are nine species on this con- 

 tinent, are strictly American trees, no representatives of the 

 genus having been found elsewhere. They 

 are closely allied to the walnuts; the chief 

 botanic distinction between them lies in the 

 husk which in the Hickories separates into 

 four pieces and discharges the nut, instead of 

 adhering in an unbroken coat upon it as is 

 the case with the Black Walnut and the But- 

 ternut. 



All the Hickories have alternate, exstipu- 

 late, compound leaves of five, seven, nine or 

 eleven leaflets, and although the leaves vary 

 considerably they have a common typical 

 form well expressed by Hicoria ovata, the 

 Shellbark. All have stout perpendicular tap- 

 roots and thick fibrous rootlets as well. Like 

 the oaks they take strong hold of the earth. 

 The noticeable quality of the wood is its 

 strength and elasticity as well as its fuel 

 value, but it decays when subjected to alter- 

 nations of wet and dry. 



The flowers are monoecious and apetalous, 

 appearing after the leaves are well grown. 

 The staminate flowers appear m aments 

 which are borne in threes on a common 

 peduncle which is produced either from the 

 terminal bud or from the lateral buds in the 

 axils of last year's leaves. The staminate 

 flowers consist of a two, sometimes three- 

 lobed calyx, subtended by an elongated bract 

 which is free nearly to the base, usually much longer than 

 the ovate, rounded calyx-lobes. The corolla is wanting. 



278 



J 



Staminate Aments of 

 Shellbark Hickory, 

 Hicoria ovata ; 4' 

 to ^' long. 



