234 



The Hickories 



1 8 mm. long; the scales are imbricated, and hairy, the outer broadly ovate, 

 sharp-pointed, dark brown and hairy; the iimer scales grow as the bud opens, be- 

 coming conspicuously enlarged, yellowish green or reddish, reflexed, 7 cm. long, 

 usually persisting until the staminate catkins fall. The leaves are 2 to 3.5 dm. 

 long, the leaf-stalk stout, slightly grooved, much thickened at the base, smooth 

 or hairy. The 5 or rarely 7 leaflets are obovate to oblong- lanceolate, 10 to 15 

 cm. long, the lowest pair shorter and broader at the base, usually straight, equal 

 at the tapering or rounded base, taper-pointed, margined with small, thick-tipped 

 teeth; the terminal leaflet is broadest above the middle, tapering to a slightly 

 winged slender stalk 4 to 10 mm. long; they are thin and firm, yellowish green 



and smooth above, smooth and shining or slightly 

 hairy beneath. The staminate catkins are in 

 stalked clusters of 3, slender, light green, glan- 

 dular and hairy, i to 1.5 dm. long, the flowers 

 opening when the leaves are nearly completely 

 unfolded, their linear-lanceolate bracts elongated 

 and much longer than the lobes of the perianth, 

 which are ovate; stamens 4, nearly sessile, their 

 anthers slightly spreading, lobed at the apex, yel- 

 low and somewhat hairy; the pistillate flowers 

 are in spikes of 2 to 5, rusty- woolly; stigma pale 

 green. The fruit ripens in September and Oc- 

 tober, usually in pairs or solitary, subglobose, 3 

 to 5 cm. long, depressed, the top bearing 

 the withered remnants of the stigma, dark red- 

 FiG. 191. — Shellbark. (jjg]^ brown, smooth or slightly hairy; husk varia- 



ble, often 8 mm. thick, 4-valved, splitting to the base; nut oblong, subglobose or 

 obovoid, very variable in size and shape, somewhat flattened, pointed and slightly 

 wrinkled and angular, white, the shell and partitions relatively thin; seed sweet, 

 deeply 2-lobed, irregularly ridged, light brown, somewhat shining. 



The wood is hard, strong, tough and elastic, close-grained and light brown; 

 its specific gravity is about 0.84. It is largely used in the manufacture of vehi- 

 cles, agricultural implements, ax handles, baskets and hoops, and for fuel. 



The common commercial hickory nut which is gathered in large quantities for 

 food is produced by this species. A form with a very thin shell, known as Hale's 

 paper shell hickory, is being planted in many places for its fruit. 



10. SOUTHERN SHELLBARK — Hicoria carolinse-septentrionalis Ashe 



Carya caroliruB-sepientrionalis C. K. Schneider 



An inhabitant of valleys, or seldom on dry hills, from Delaware to Kentucky, 

 south to Georgia and Alabama, attaining a maximum height of 40 meters, with 

 a trunk diameter of 1.2 m. 



