(105) 



nut of commerce, is slightly flattened at the top, 4-sided and 

 closely invested with a husk which splits all the way down to 

 the base. 



The range of this valuable tree is from Maine to Georgia ; 

 in the Hudson Valley it is common. The hard tough wood 

 is much prized in making tool handles. (Plate 135.) 



Small-fruited Hickory Hicoria microcarpa 



There are two Hudson Valley hickories that have shaggy 

 bark. The small-fruited hickory may at once be distin- 

 guished by the husk of its smaller nut which does not split all 

 the way to the base, as it does in the common shagbark 

 hickory. The splitting plates of the bark are smaller, and 

 consequently the trunk is not so distinctly shaggy. 



The small-fruited hickory, which is a large tree, often 

 reaching a height of 80 feet, grows commonly in the same 

 situations as, and often with, the shag-bark hickory; it is 

 known to occur only from New York to North Carolina 

 and westward to Missouri. It is comparatively common on 

 Staten Island but scarcer northward. (Plate 136.) 



Pignut Hickory Hicoria glabra 



The pignut prefers drier ground than most of the other 

 hickories. It is often as much as 100 feet in height and with 

 a trunk diameter of 3 to 4 feet. The bark is close, some- 

 times shallowly fissured, and is usually of a grayish color. 



The compound leaf is composed of 3 to 7 leaflets; very 

 rarely 9 leaflets will be found. Being practically without 

 individual stalks, the leaflets are attached by their bases to 

 the common leaf-stalk of the leaf. The leaflets are smooth 

 above, and smooth below except at the forking of the prin- 

 cipal veins where a tuft of hairs may often be found. The 

 tree flowers in May, and the fruits develop about October. 

 The nut, which is the common, and usually bitter, pignut of 

 the markets, is almost spherical, sometimes slightly com- 

 pressed and is closely invested by a husk which splits very 

 tardily, if at all. 



