110 



BITTER NUT HICKORY. 



Carya cordiformis, (WaYigenheim) K. Koch. 



FORM — A rather large tree usually 50-75 ft. high with a diameter of 1-2 ft. but may reach 

 a height of 100 ft. with a diameter of 2i-3 feet. Trunk long, clean, with little taper. Crown 

 round-topped, broadest near top, rather shallow in forest grown specimens. Lateral branches 

 stout and ascending, often with semi-pendulous branchlets. 



BARK — Light gray, rather thin, roughened by shallow fissures and narrow ridges; tight- 

 fitting and does not peel off or shag off in loos? scales like the Shag-bark Hickory. See Fig. 91. 



TWIGS — Slender, smooth, glossy, often yellow-glandular and hairy towards apex, grayish 

 or orange-brown or reddish, roughened with numerous pale and longitudinally-elongated lenticels: 

 pith brown, angular. 



BUDS — Alternate, covered by 4 yellowish, glandular-dotted scales occurring in valvate pairs. 

 Terminal bud evidently-elongated, flattened, blunt-pointed. Lateral buds usually superposed; 

 the lowest or axillary one usually small and sharp-pointed; the upper one larger, evidently- 

 stalked and angular. 



LEAVES — Alternate, compound, with 7-11 leaflets, 6-10 inches long. Leaflets lanceolate to 

 ovate-lanceolate, lateral ones sessile, sharp-pointed at apex, finely toothed on margin, obliquely 

 tapering or heart-shaped at base; when mature dark yellowish-green above, paler below. 



LEAF-SCARS — Alternate, large, conspicuous, raised, heart-shaped, triangular to elliptical, 

 lighter than twigs, containing numerous bundle-scars arranged in 3 groups or in a single 

 curved line or occasionally scattered irregularly over whole scar. 



FLOWERS — Appear about May when leave? are half -developed. Staminate and pistillate 

 flowers separate. Staminate green and arranged in triple-clustered aments about 3-4 inches 

 long. Pistillate, and small clusters on the new giowth about i of an inch long, somewhat angled 

 and scurfy-hairy. 



FRUIT — Matures about October; spherical to obovate about i-H inches long. Husk thin, 

 yellowish glandular-dotted, splits open to about the middle into four valves; before splitting 

 appears 4-winged from apex to about the middle. Nut thin-shelled, at least as broad as long, 

 smooth, short-pointed, with reddish-brown and very bitter kernel. 



WOOD — Wood of this species resembles the wood of the other Hickories, described on page 106, 

 only it is somewhat lighter, not quite so strong, of somewhat less fuel value, more brittle, less 

 stiff, and yields more ash when burned. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS— The Bitter Nut Hickory, also known as Swamp 

 Hickory and Bitter Hickory, can be distinguished by its lanceolate leaflets which are pube- 

 scent beneath, and smaller than those of any other native Hickory. It is the only native 

 species which has yellow buds with 4-6 bud-scales arranged in valvate pairs. Its terminal buds 

 are flattened and elongated while the lateral buds are evidently-stalked and superposed. The 

 nut is globular, short-pointed, thin-walled, containing a bitter kernel, and is covered by a thin 

 husk which in time splits open from the apex to about the middle. The bark is rough, but 

 does not scale off, which characteristic it has in common with the Pignut and the Mocker 

 Nut. 



RANGE — Quebec to Minnesota and Nebraska and south to Florida and Texas. 



DISTRIBUTION IN PENNSYLVANIA — Local throughout the southeastern and southern parts. 

 Also reported from the central and northern parts. Nowhere common. Usually solitary and 

 scattered. 



HABITAT — Prefers low, wet, and fertile situations such as border of streams and farmers' 

 woodlots located in rich agricultural regions. Often found, however, far up the slopes of moun- 

 tains. It ascends to the top of the South Mountains in Pennsylvania. Not very tolerant of 

 shade. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SPECIES — This species produces valuable wood but its fruit is not 



edible. It grows best on rich moist Goil such as one usually finds in a farmer's woodlot. 

 It endures transplanting better and grows more rapidly than any other of our Hickories. This 

 valuable wood is becoming rare. A future supply should be insured by developing this tree 

 in mixture with others in the farmer's woodlot and in fertile portions of larger forests. It 

 Is not gregarious but prefers to grow as a single specimen in mixture with other species. 



