SOi 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL TLAXl'S. 



2. CAH'TA, Nutt. Hickoey. 



[Greek, Karya^ — the ancient name of the "Walnut. J 



Stamixate Fl. in slender lateral aments, ^vliicu are mostly in threes, 

 from the same buds with the leaves. Calyx scale-like, unequally 3- 

 parted. Stamens 3 - 8 ; anthers sub-sessile. Pistillate Fl. in terminal 

 clusters of 2-3. Calyx 4-cleft ; petals none ; stig?nas large, 4-lobed. 

 Fruit with a thick leathery husJc, opening more or less completely by 4 

 valves; ?7ii? loDg, smooth, usually somewhat 4-angled. /u/ce watery or 

 often sweetish ; pith continuous; young branches tough and pliable; 

 leaflets acuminate ; pubescence stellate. All flowering in May and drop- 

 ping their nuts in October. 



* Seed edible ; valves of the hull completely separating. 

 f Fruit oblong ; the husk thin : bark of the trunk not shaggy. 



1. C. olivsefor'mis, Nutt. Leaflets 11-15, lanceolate and somewhat 

 falcate, serrate, subsessile, — the terminal one petiolulate ; fruit obovoid- 

 oblong ; epicarp rather thin ; nut olive-shaped, obscurely 4-angled, with 

 an even surface. 



Olive-shaped Caeya. Pecan Hickory. Pecan nut. 



stem 40-50 feet high. Leaflels in 5 - 7 or 8 pairs, with a terminal odd one, 3-6 inches 

 in length, smooth, with a short roughish puhescence on the midrih and nerves beneath. 

 Fruit 1 to near 2 inches long ; nut \vith a thin frangible sMZ, — the kernel large. 



Wet low grounds : Western and South-western States. 



Obs. This tree is little known, in the North, except by its very fine 

 nuts, — which are even superior to those of the admired Shell-bark, 

 ff Fruit globular, with a very thick: husk : hark of the trunk shaggy, fall- 

 ing off in strips. 



2. C. al'ba, Nutl. Leaflets 5, obovate-lanceolate, acuminate, sharply 

 serrate ; aments smoothish ; fruit depressed-globose ; epicarp thick ; nut 

 4-augled, compressed, with the shell thin. 



White Caeya. Shell-bark, or Shag-bark Hickory. 



S'.'eni 60-80 feet high, with the outer tarfc exfohating in long scales or plates, which 

 generally adhere in the middle, while one or both ends are detached and elevated, making 

 the surface verj- rough and shaggy. iea/?&'-3 mostly in 2 pairs with a terminal odd one, 

 3 or 4-6, S or io inches long, the terminal one usually largest, and the lower pair much 

 smaller. J.?}ie?ife at the base of the young growth, 2 or 3 -4 or 5 inches long, triple or 

 3-parted on a common peduncle, smoothish, pendulous, with a linear-lanceolate bract at 

 the base of each branch or lateral ament. Stamens mostly 4, — the anthers somewhat 

 hairy. Pi.??(7Z«te ^on-ers terminal, mostly 2-3 together, sessile on a common peduncle. 

 Fi-uit somewhat umbihcate at the ends, and depressed or sulcate along the sutures of tha- 

 valves ; epicarp (or hull) thick and subcarnosely coriaceous, opening at maturity into 4 

 distinct valves or pieces ; nut about an inch long, suborbicular or oval, compressed and 

 somewhat 4-angled, white, — ^the shdl thin and frangible. 



Low lands ; along streaais, &c. New England to Carolina. 



Obs. The nuts of this tree are well known, and highly esteemed. I 

 think there are some varieties, — with the bark less shaggy, the fruit with 

 a thinner epicarp, a thicker shell, and the kernel of inferior quality. Tha 



