JUGLANDACEAE 
Bitternut Hickory 
Carya cordiformis (Wang.) K. Koch [Hicoria minima 
(Marsh.) Britt.) [Carya amara Nutt.] 
HABIT.—A tall, slender tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk 
diameter of 1-21%4 feet; forming a broad crown of slender, stiff, 
upright branches, widest near the top. 
LEAVES.—Alternate, compound, 6-10 inches long. Leaflets 
5-11, the upper 4-6 inches long and one-fourth as broad; sessile, 
except the terminal; lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed ; 
coarsely serrate; thin and firm; glabrous, bright green above, 
paler and more or less downy beneath. Petioles slender, ‘hairy. 
Foliage fragrant when crushed. 
FLOWERS.—May, after the leaves; monoecious; the stam- 
inate slightly pubescent, in pendulous, ternate catkins 3-4 inches 
long, on a common peduncle about 1 inch long; scales 3-lobed, 
hairy; stamens 4, with bearded, yellow anthers; the pistillate 
in 2-5-flowered spikes %4 inch long, scurfy-tomentose; calyx 
4-lobed, pubescent; corolla 0; stigmas 2, greenish. 
FRUIT.—October; obovate to globular, about 1 inch long, 
coated with yellow, scurfy pubescence, with very thin husk split- 
ting half-way to the base, with sutures winged at the top; nut 
quite smooth, with thin shell and small, bitter kernel. 
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud about 34 inch long, long- 
pointed, flattish, granular-yellow; lateral buds more or less 
4-angled. 
BARK.—Twigs greenish and more or less downy, becoming 
brownish, and finally grayish; gray, close, smooth on the trunk, 
often reticulately ridged, but rarely broken into plates. 
WOOD.—Heavy, very hard, strong, tough, close-grained, 
dark brown, with thick, lighter colored sapwood. 
‘DISTRIBUTION.—Of common occurrence in the southern 
half of the Lower Peninsula. 
HABITAT.—Prefers a rich, loamy or gravelly soil; low, wet 
woods; along the borders of streams; but also found on high, 
dry uplands. 
‘NOTES.—Grows most rapidly of all the hickories, but is apt 
to show dead branches. Should be propagated from the seed, as 
it is not easily transplanted. 
pee ae 
