MOCKERNUT HICKOR1 



Hieoria <ill><t < /.. ) Brxtton 



The Walnut Family 

 JUGLANDACBA] 



Habit and Habitat: \ medium-sized tre< I high, with a 



trunk diameter of l-- 1 - feet, but attains a maximum size of LOO I 

 in height and a diameter <>t ■', feet; upright branches and stout twigs 

 form a wide-topped and more or less spreading crown, a hn hit which is 

 emphasised when the tree is isolated from other trees. Tins species is 

 commonly found on hillsides and ridges, but develops to the great 



proportions in rich, well-drained and moist soils, although it will not do 



will in as moist sites as are more preferable to the shagbark and big 

 nut hickories. 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, 8-12 



inches long, fragrant when crushed. Leaflets 5 -7, sometimes 9, the upper 

 - inches long, 2-.'i inches wide, oblong, to ovate-lanceolate, finely serrate, 

 thick and firm, shiny, dark yellow-green above, paler, orange or blown. 

 and more or less hairy beneath. Petioles hairy. Clear or rusty yellow in 

 autumn. Terminal bud fa-% inch long, broadly ovate, acute, reddish- 

 brown, downy, outer scales fall in autumn, inner scales enlarging greatly 

 when spring growth begins. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in May when the leaves are 



full grown; the staminate in slender, greenish, pendulous catkins 4-"» 

 inches long, in groups of three; scales M-lobed, hairy; stamens 4-5, red, 

 yellowish; calyx toothed. Pistillate flowers in crowded, 2-5-flowered 

 clusters, hairy; calyx toothed, hairy; corolla 0; stigmas 2, w<\. hairy. 

 Fruit spherical, oblong or globose, dark reddish-brown. L%-2 inches long, 

 with thick husk, splitting to the middle or nearly to the base, nut spher- 

 ical or oblong, often long-pointed, 4-ridged, pale, reddish-brown with 

 very thick, hard shell and small, sweet, edible seed or kernel, ripening in 

 October. 



Bark, Twigs and Wood: Bark on old branches light to dark gray, 

 with shallow, irregular fissures and closely appressed scales, becoming 

 very rugged on old trunks; branchlets stout, brownish-hairy at first, be- 

 coming smooth and gray and gradually darkening. The wood is dark 

 brown with nearly white sapwood, heavy, hard, strong, tough, close- 

 grained, elastic, durable, widely used, excellent as fuel. 



Distribution in the State: Like the other hickories, the mockernut 

 is not found abundantlv anywhere in Nebraska. It occurs com- 

 monly in the forests of Iowa and Missouri from whence it would readily 

 come into our state. It has been reported \\,y southeastern Nebraska 

 from Richardson county and extending in a narrow belt northward t<> 

 Cass county, but is probably the most rarely found of our four native 

 -pec,.- of hickory. Map 23. 



Remarks: The wood of the mockernut is practically as good as that 

 <»f the shagbark hickory, with which it is often confused commercially, 

 and it is used for about the same purp- - other hickory woods. This 



species is probably called mockernut because "f the disappointing na- 

 ture of its nuts, which are large and promising from the exterior but 

 which contain a surprisingly small kernel which is difficult to e\ti 

 The large '.• emit a pleasant, resinous fragrance when bruised or 



crushed. 



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