IV. 2. THE BITTERNUT HICKORY. 199 
Sp. 4. Tue Birrernur Hickory. Carya amara. F. A. Mi- 
chaux. 
Figured in Michaux, Sylva, I, Plate 33; and on Plate 15 of this volume. 
This species, though perfectly distinct and well defined, is 
very generally confounded with the last described, or, if at all 
distinguished, is called the bitter pignut. 
it may be easily recognized by the smallness and slenderness 
of its leaves, which give it much the aspect of an ash, by its 
small, pointed, yellow buds, by the winged projections at the 
upper part of the fruit-seams of the husk, and by the bitter- 
ness of the kernel of the thin-shelled nut. 
The bitternut hickory is found abundantly in the vicinity of 
Boston, particularly in Chelsea and Brookline. In Cambridge, 
and the towns beyond, it less rarely occurs, its place being taken 
by the pignut, as it is in Dorchester and towards Milton hills. 
On the hills in Brighton, the four species are more equally min- 
gled than I have found them elsewhere. It alsooccurs in Wor- 
cester County, and in the counties along the Connecticut. 
The bitternut hickory is the most graceful of these beautiful 
trees, and remarkable for its finely cut folage.. It raises a no- 
ble columnar top, to the height of sixty or seventy feet, enlarg- 
ing upwards, and broadest at forty or fifty. “The trunk gradu- 
ally tapers from the ground; less rough than most large trees, 
with a few loose portions of its light granite gray bark here 
and there projecting, and differing from the color of the other 
hickories by a faint yellow tinge. ‘The recent shoots are of an 
orange-green, smooth, and dotted with orange dots. As they 
srow older, they change to a brownish gray. The buds are 
small and very characteristic; they are of an orange-yellow 
color, the terminal ones long, curved, flattened and pointed, the 
axillary ones shorter and rounded. By observing these, the 
tree may be easily distinguished at any season of the year. 
The leaves are on small stalks, which are somewhat downy, 
and often flattened and winged. The leaflets are from seven to 
eleven, small, narrow, lanceolate, sessile, inequilateral, smooth 
on both surfaces, or with a slight scattered down beneath. 
