PIGNUT HICKORY. 
87 
\ 
compound, and vary in size and in the number of leaflets, according to the 
moisture and fertility of the soil. In rich grounds, they are 18 inches 
long ; and the complete number of leaflets is 3 pairs with an odd one. The 
leaflets are 4 or 5 inches long, acuminate, serrate, nearly sessile, and gla- 
brous or smooth on both sides. On vigorous trees, which grow in shady 
exposures, the petiole is of a violet color. 
The male aments are smooth, filiform, flexible, and pendulous: they 
are 2 inches long, and in their arrangement resemble those of the other 
Hickories. The female flowers are greenish, not very conspicuous, and 
situated at the extremity of the shoot : the fruit succeeds them in pairs as 
often as singly. The husk is thin and of a beautiful green : when ripe it 
opens through half its length, for the passage of the nut. The nut is small, 
smooth, and very hard on account of the thickness of the shell. Its kernel 
is sweet but meager, and diflicult to extract, from the firmness pf the parti- 
tions. These nuts are never carried to market, but serve for food to swine, 
raccoons, and the numerous species of squirrels which people the forests. 
In the Pignut Hickory, the form and size of the nuts vary more than in 
the other species. Some are oval, and when covered with their husks 
resemble young figs ; others are broader than they are long, and others are 
perfectly round. Among these various forms, some nuts are as large as the 
thumb, and others not bigger than the little finger. Although the same tree 
yields fruit of the same form every year, I cannot, after an attentive exami- 
nation of the young shoots and of the aments, consider these differences in 
any other light than as varieties. The two most remarkable of them are 
described in the new edition of the Species Plantarum, by Willdenow, as 
distinct species. That with oblong fruit is called Juglans glabra^ and that 
with round fruit and a husk somewhat rough, Juglans ohcordata. Dr. 
Muhlenberg admits this distinction, but, with all the deference which I owe 
to his botanical knowledge, I cannot adopt his opinion. 
The wood of the Pignut Hickory resembles that of the other species in 
the color of its sap and of its heart : it possesses also their excellencies and 
their defects. I have conversed with wheel -wrights in the country, who 
affirmed that it is the strongest and the most tenacious of the Hickories, 
and who, for that reason, preferred it to any other for axle-trees and axe 
helves. These considerations lead me to recommend its introduction into 
the forests of Europe, where its success would be certain. 
PLATE XXXVHI. 
J1 branch with its leaves of one third of the natural size. Fig. I, A nut with 
its husk {oblong variety). Fig. 2, A nut without its husk. Fig. 2, A nut with 
its husk {round variety). Fig. 4, A nut without its husk. 
