BIG UK KORY. BIG M I 



II "iii laciniosa (Mich.-. /. ; >»/</. 



The Walnut I a m i 1 > 

 JUGLAND \« I 



Habit and Habitat: A tree, commonl; nigh, and with ■ 



trunk diameter of 2-8 feet, although occasionally 100-120 feet high and 

 t in diameter, usually much smaller in this state; forming a narrow, 

 oblong crown of small branches, with more or less drooping lo 



and large, handsome leaves. Prefers the deep, rich, moist sods 

 of bottom-lands along Btreams and in the deeper woods. 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, 1-2 feet 

 long. Leaflets usually 7, the upper 5*-8 inches long, 3-6 inches broad, 

 larger than the lowest pair, oblong-lanceolate to ob >vate, taper-point 



thick and firm, finely serrate, shiny and dark green above, paler and 

 softly-hairy beneath. Petioles stout, often persisting after the leaf] 

 fall. Foliage fragrant when crushed. Terminal bud about 1 inch 1< I 



>id, obtuse, dark brown, soft-downy or velvety, becoming greatly en- 

 larged with the commencement of growth in the spring. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in .May after the leai 



the staminate in pendulous, cylindrical, scaly catkins, f>-7 inches long, 

 slender, yellow-green, in groups of three; scales 3-lobed, hairy; stam< 



yellow, hairy; the pistillate flowers in crowded 2-5-flowered, hairy 

 clusters; calyx 3-toothed, hairy; corolla 0. Fruit ripening in October 

 or soon after the first frosts, oblong t:> globose, 1 '•,-l2 1 J inches long, 

 with a very thick, woody husk which is green at first, later light brown, 

 splitting to the base when ripe, inclosing a large, 4-G-ridged nut, with 

 thick, hard shell and a large, sweet kernel or seed. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: The bark on young branches and twigs 

 is orange colored and more or less pubescent, becoming darker and 

 finally gray, on the old trunk it becomes thick, light gray, and separates 

 into bread, thick plates 3-4 feet long which cling to the trunk for many 

 .rs and give to the tree an appearance like that of the shagbark. 

 The wood is hard, heavy, strong, tough, close-grained, elastic, dark 

 brown, with thin, whitish sapwood; used for practically any use to which 

 the wood of the shagbark hickory is put. 



Distribution in the State: This hickory finds its most agreeable 

 home in northern United States with a center in the Ohio valley west- 

 ward from western Pennsylvania. Occurs commonly in the Missouri 

 forests from which it has moved northward along the Missouri river 

 into Nebraska from Richardson county northward in a narrow belt 

 t<. Sarpy county. The tree is not at all common or abundant in this I 

 stricted range. Map 24. 



Remarks: The king nut may be distinguished from the other 

 f hickory by the orange colored branchlets and from many of 

 them by the very large nuts. The nuts are not considere I i 



those of the shagbark and they do not find so ready a market nor do they 

 command so hi'j-h a price as tin- smaller nuts of tlv bark. This 



species is m rictly confined to the rich bottom-Ian 



sha«. r bark. The latter species is often found in rather dry op ods 



in our state. It is interesting to note that there are no native hickory 



found west of the Great Plains, they are all confined t 

 ' ■ • ! States, and there are none in any other part of the world. 





