FALSE SHAG-BARK HICKORY {Hicoria viicrocarpa). 



Fig. 



Hicoria mici ocaipa, Britton, Bull. Torr. Hot. Club, xv. 2S3 (1S88). 



HE False Shag-bark Hickory 

 is a tree which is very im- 

 perfectly understood by 

 botanists, and one rarely 

 recognized by others. 

 Some botanists have even 

 doubted its existence, and 

 our highest authority upon 

 American trees has consid- 

 ered it l)ut an incidental form of the true shag-bark. 

 This confusion has evidently resulted mostly from 

 scant and imperfect specimens in the herbaria of 

 botanists. The writer has long observed the tree 

 in central Michigan, and 

 more recently in central New 

 York, and it appears to pos- 

 sess certain marks which 

 clearly distinguish i t from 

 other species. 



It is important that horti- 

 culturists should obtain a 

 correct understanding of this 

 tree, for it is often mistaken 

 for the shag-bark hickory, 

 and now that nut-culture is assuming some import- 

 ance such confusion should not exist. The hicko- 

 ries are also among our most 

 picturesque trees for planting 

 in large grounds. The orna- 

 mental features of these two 

 species are very unlike. 



The false shag-bark is more 

 closely related to the pig-nut 

 than to the shag-bark or white 

 hickory, but it agrees with the true shag-bark in 

 possessing a loose bark, and in the disposition of 

 the husks of the nuts to split open at maturity. It 

 may therefore be well to first contrast it with the 

 shag-bark, with which it ap- 

 pears to have been generally 

 confounded. 



The first, and perhaps most 

 striking difference between the 

 false and true shag-barks is in 

 the habit of growth. Figures 

 1 and 3* show characteristic F"^- ^- Ctioss Section 

 , , -T-i r 1 OF Nut OF Shag-bark. 

 specnnens oi each. Ihe lalse 



shag-bark usually has a narrower top than the 



Nut of Shac 

 Bark. 



Fig. 5. Cross Sec- 

 tion OF Nut of, 

 False Shag-Bark. 



Cai ya tnictocai pa. Nuttall, Geneva N. Amer. PI. ii. 221 (181.S). 



other. Its lower and intermediate branches take a 

 nearly horizontal position, and the spray is so dis- 

 posed that it falls in layers or 

 strata. The shag-bark, on the 

 1 other hand, is a rugged and 

 ;|l broken grower, and is there- 

 fore more picturesque. It is 

 in every way a bolder tree. 

 The spray is coarse and some- 

 what sparse, and it breaks up 

 into angular and irregular fig- 

 ures. 



The bark of the two species is dissimilar. In the 

 false shag-bark it breaks up into thin strips from 

 one to three inches wide, while in the other 

 it breaks into wide and flat plates, which 

 are often six inches broad. Figures lo and 

 1 1 bring out these differences. This, dis- 

 similarity of bark is so great as to enable 

 one to distinguish the species at a glance. 



The winter buds of the two are strik- 

 ingly unlike. Figure 8 shows a represen- 

 ^.p tative twig of the false shag- 

 / - '.?-\ bark, and figure g one of the 

 shag-bark. The difference does 

 not reside entirely in the sizes 

 of the buds. The bud-scales of 

 the shag-bark are conspicuously 

 pointed, while those of the other 

 are blunt or nearly so. These 

 differences are most apparent 

 when the bud-scales begin to Shoot of 

 enlarge with the bursting of the False 

 leaves. Those of the shag-bark S h a g - 

 are then vei'y broad, and are 

 terminated by a prominent point often 

 a fourth inch or more long. Those of 

 the false shag-bark are much narrower 

 and obtuse, or bearing only a rudimen- 



FiG. 8. 



Fig. 9 

 Shoot of ^ary point. 

 Shag-bark. There are differences between the two 

 in foliage and season of flowering (the 

 catkins of the false shag-bark appear fully a week 

 after those of the other species), and the catkins 



* The negative from which a " half-tone " illustration of the shag- 

 bark was to have been made, was broken in transportation; but 

 the artist has made a faithful tracing of the form and habit of 

 the tree on page 3S7. — Ed. 



