192 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
cal head, of great beauty. Where it has grown almost by it- 
self, from an early age, it often becomes a spreading tree, with 
a fine broad, but somewhat open head. In the forest, its rugged 
trunk may be seen stretching up, with scarcely perceptible dim- 
inution, and without a limb, to a height of fifty or sixty feet. 
It is covered with a bark of remarkable and characteristic ap- 
pearance. It is of a dark granite or ashen gray, and by a few 
distant, deep furrows, the external portion is separated into long 
plates, which cleave nearly off in large loose flakes, attached 
only by the centre, or one end. This singular exfoliation of the 
bark does not occur in very young trees, and we sometimes find 
them bearing fruit with a bark almost as smooth as the mocker- 
nut or the pignut hickory. 
The branches, if compared with those of most other trees, 
are small, but are larger than those of the other hickories. The 
recent shoots are stout, at first grayish or greenish brown, after- 
wards purple, smooth, and dotted with numerous long, light- 
brown dots, obliterated in the older shoots, which become 
of avery dark gray. The leaves are large, and of five lcaf- 
lets, of which the side ones are inequilateral, and nearly sessile, 
while the terminal leafletis on a short footstalk. The lower 
pair are small, narrow, ovate lance-shaped; the upper pair and 
the terminal one very large and broad, and inversely egg-shaped. 
All end in a long point, and are coarsely serrate, smooth and 
dark green above, of a yellowish green and downy beneath, on 
a round, yellowish green footstalk. In October, they become of 
al orange brown or orange russet, and finally a deep russet. 
The buds are middle sized, ovate, yellowish brown, half cov- 
ered by the two external scales. Early in the spring, these 
scales fall off, and the buds enlarge to a very considerable size. 
In May or June, they open by the folding back of the large, 
conspicuous scales, which are numerous, from two to five inches 
long, and often one or two broad, widening towards the end, 
and of a rich purple color, invested externally with yellowish 
silken down. ‘hey are tough, of a soft leathery texture, and 
beautifully fringed. 
From the midst of these gorgeous, flower-like scales, appear 
the leaves, expanding late, but hastening to atone for the delay 
