84 
THICK SHELLBARK HICKORY. 
that in this species the plates are narrower, more numerous, and of a lighter 
color ; from which dilTerences, I have thought proper to give it the specific 
name of laciniosa. The outer scales of the buds do not adhere entirely to 
the inner ones, but retire as in the Shellbark Hickory. The leaves also, 
which vary in length from 8 to 20 inches, observe the same process in 
nnfolding, and are similar in size, configuration and texture ; but they differ 
in being composed of 7 leaflets and sometimes of 9, instead of 5 the inva- 
riable number of the Shellbark Hickory. The male aments are disposed 
in the same form, though they are, perhaps, a little longer than in the 
other species. The female flowers appear, not very conspicuously, at the 
extremity of the shoots of the same spring. They are succeeded by a large 
oval fruit, more than 2 inches long, and 4 or 5 inches in circumference. 
Like that of the Shellbark Hickory, it has four depressed seams, which, at 
its complete maturity, open through their whole length for the escape of 
the nut. The nut of this species is widely different from the other ; it is 
nearly twice as big, longer than it is broad, and terminated at each 
end in a firm point. The shell is also thicker and of a yellowish hue, 
while that of the Shellbark nut is white. 
From the color of its nut, the Shellbark Hickory received the specific 
name of alha, which I have changed, as it indicates a character possessed 
by it in common with another species, found in the Royal Gardens of the 
Petit Trianon, This species, originally from North America, belongs to 
the Scalybark Hickories. The nuts are white, and the entire fruit, though 
a little inferior in size, resembles that of the proper Shellbark Hickory. 
By its foliage, it is related to the Thick Shellbark Hickory, each leaf being 
composed of 4 pair of leaflets with an odd one. The specific name of 
ambigua, might with propriety be given to it. 
The nuts of the Thick Shellbark Hickory are brought every autumn to 
the market of Philadelphia, but the quantity does not exceed a few bushels, 
and they are generally sold mixed with those of the Mockernut Hickory, 
which resemble some varieties of this species. The Gloucester Plickory I 
consider only as a variety of the Thick Shellbark Hickory, to which it 
bears the strongest resemblance, in its young shoots, in the number 
of its leaflets, and in its barren aments. The only essential difference is 
in the nuts; those of the Gloucester Walnut are a third larger, with the 
shell one half thicker, and so hard that it requires pretty heavy blows of 
a hammer to crack them. In color, they resemble the nuts of the Mocker- 
nut Hickory, with the finest varieties of -which they might, from this cir- 
cumstance, be confounded. 
The Thick Shellbark Hickory, as has been said, is nearly related to the 
Shellbark Hickory, and its wood, which is of the same color and texture, 
unites the peculiar qualities of that species with such as are common to the 
Hickories. Its fruit, though larger, is inferior in taste, and this considéra- 
