Hais^dbook of Tt?ee.s of Tin-: ISTokttiern States axd Canada. 



51 



The Butternut when growing in the open 

 rarely attains a greater hoiglit than 60 or 70 

 ft., its short trunk sometimes 3 or 4 ft. in 

 diameter soon dividing into a few hirge 

 branches, which spread far out and make a 

 wide symmetrical Hat or rounded top. In 

 forests it sometimes attains the height of 100 

 ft. It prefers rich soil along the banks of 

 streams and on low hill-sides, commonly in 

 company with the Beech, Yellow Birch, Maples, 

 Elms, Bed Spruce, etc. 



Its wood is light, a cubic foot when abso- 

 lutely dry weighing 25. 4G lbs., not strong, of a 

 gray-brown color and is valued for interior 

 finishing, cabinet work, etc. Its sap is rich 

 in sugar, and a fairly good quality of syrup is 

 made from it, though it does not harden to 

 form cakes; its bark possesses cathartic 

 properties; its nuts make a delicious food, and 

 the shucks are used for djing purposes. i 



Leaves 11-17 in. long, viscid-pubescent, with 

 stout petioles and 11-19 oblong-lanceolate yellow- 

 ish green rugose leaflets which are rounded and 

 unequal at base, acuminate, finely serrate except 

 at base, turning yellow in 'autumn and falling 

 early. Flotvers (May-June) ; staminate aments 

 l%-3 in. at first and elongating to .'i-H in.; calyx 

 yellow-green usually 6-lobed with rusty pubescent 

 acute bracts; stamens 8-12 with dark brown 

 anthers and slightly lobed connectives ; pistillate 

 in 3-8-flowered spikes with sticky glandular hairs, 

 pointed calyx-lobes and bright red plumose stig- 

 mas usually not fully unfolding until after libera- 

 tion of pollen. Fruit in racemose clusters of 2-.'i, 

 ovoid-bblong, IV-i-'^V^ in. long, sticky pubescent 

 with rough deeply sculptured 4-ribbed nut, 

 acuminate at apex, 2-cplled at base, 1-celled above 

 and containing a very oily edible seed. 



.. .>. »., 1, It, 



V 



