74 
BITTERNUT HICKORY. 
to their internal divisions. They vary in length from an inch to an inch 
and a half, are pointed at the extremities, of a cylindrical form, and of a 
yellowish color, marked, at the period of perfect maturity, with blackish 
or purple lines. The shell is smooth and thin, though too hard to be broken 
by the fingers: the kernel is full, and not being divided by ligneous parti- 
tions, is easily extracted. These nuts, which are of a very agreeable taste, 
form an object of petty commerce, between Upper and Lower Louisiana. 
From New Orleans, they are exported to the West Indies, and to the ports 
of the United States. They are not only better than any other species of 
North American walnuts, but they appear to me to be more delicately 
flavoured, than those of Europe. And besides, wild varieties of the Pecannut 
are found, the fruit of which is much larger than that of the European Walnut 
unimproved by culture. I am of opinion then, that this tree merits the 
attention both of Americans and Europeans, and that by assiduous culti- 
vation it may be brought to a high degree of perfection. These advantages, 
it is true, are balanced in part by the slowness of its growth ; there are 
trees in France which have been planted more than thirty years, and which 
do not yield fruit. 
If the practice should be successfully adopted, of grafting the Pecannut 
on the Black Walnut, or on the Common Walnut, its vegetation would be 
incomparably more rapid, and no motive would discourage its propagation 
in Europe. 
PLATE XXXII. 
A leaf of half its natural size. Fig. 1, A nut with its husk. Fig. 2, A 
nut ivithout its husk. 
BITTERNUT HICKORY. 
JuGLANs AMARA. J. urhoT maxima, foliolis 7 — 9°'®, glabris, conspicue serratis, 
impari breviter petiolato : fructu subrotundo-ovoideo, superné suturis prom- 
inulis ; nuce levi, subglobosâ, mucronatâ : putamine fragili, nucleo amaro. 
Cà-rya Amara. N utt. 
This species is generally known in New Jersey by the name of Bitternut 
Hickory ; in Pennsylvania, and particularly in the county of Lancaster, it is 
called White Hickory and sometimes Swamp Flickory ; further south, it is 
