STUDIES OF TREES IN WINTER 



scarcely a lapse of time when they fail to 

 distinguish the tree. The bitternut is the most 

 graceful of all the hickories. It has a smooth, 

 tapering trunk and delicate twigs. 



Its wood is heavy, hard, tough, and close- 

 grained, and is used for the yokes of oxen for 

 hoops and fuel. The nuts are so bitter that 

 squirrels refuse them as food. 



The former name, minima (the smallest), re- 

 ferred to the branches and foliage of the tree, 

 which are more delicate than those of other 

 hickories. The range is the same as that of 

 the shagbark and mockernut. 



Pignut Hickory ^"^ '«''^^ '''^^' 7° '« 8o ]eel high 

 Carya glabra ivUh tapering trunk and smooth 



gray bark, ivhicJi does not shag. The buds are 

 yellowish brown, and smaller than those of 

 other hickories, with no black outer scales like 

 those of the shagbark, and smaller than the 

 mockernut buds. The buds are either round, or 

 egg-shaped. Delicate twigs; alternate leaf-scars. 

 The nut has a thick shell and poor kernel; the 

 husk does not split all the way down as it does 

 with the shagbark. 



If it were possible for trees to have negative 

 characters the pignut would be eminently neg- 

 ative. In fact its distinguishing characteristic 

 is that it has no one distinctive feature to iden- 



54 



