804 



TTEEDS AXD USEFUL PLA^fTS. 



2. CA'RTA, Nutt, Hickory. 



[Greek. Karya. — the ancient name of tlie Walnut.] 



Stamixate Fl. in slender lateral aments, -which are mostly in threes, 

 from the same buds with the leaves. Cal ijx scale-like, unequallv 3- 

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

 clusters of 2-3. Calyx 4-cleft ; petals none ; stigmas large, 4-lobed. 

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

 valves ; nut long, smooth, usually somewhat 4-angled. Juice 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. olivaefor'mis, ^^utt. 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 Cahya. Pecan Hickory. Pecan nut. 



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

 in length, smooth, with a short roughish pubescence on the midrib and nerves beneath. 

 F)-uit 1 to near 2 inches long ; nut with a thin frangible shell. — ^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, 

 ft Fruit globular, with a very thick husk : bark of the trunk shaggy, fall- 

 ing off in strips. 



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

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

 4-angled, compressed, with the shell thin. 



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



iSfeni 60- 80 feet high, with the outer bark exfoliating in long scales or plates, which 

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

 the surface very rough and shaggy, iea^efe mostly in 2 pairs with a terminal odd one, 

 3 or 4 - 6, 8 or io inches long, the terminal one usually largest, and the lower pair much 

 smaller. J.7?z€nis 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^/iTIate _^.oit'e?*s terminal, mostly 2-3 together, sessile on a common peduncle. 

 Fruit somewhat umbihcate at the ends, and depressed or sulcate along the sutures of the 

 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 slidl thin and frangible. 



Low lands ; along streams, &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. The 



