35 
angled, reddish brown nut up to two inches in length and an inch and 
a quarter in width, with a thick, hard shell and a comparativelj'’ small 
sweet seed. Of the species with close bark the best known, perhaps, 
is the tree always called “Hickory'’ by persons living in the region 
where this tree is common, but in books generally called Mockernut or 
Bid Bud Hickory {Cary a alha). Less common at the north, this is the 
most generally distributed Hickory-tree of the south where it grows 
usually on dry ridges and less commonly on alluvial land. The fruit is 
oblong and often broadest above the middle, or subglobose with a thin 
husk splitting finally to the middle or to the base and a globose or 
oblong, often long-pointed, reddish brown nut with a thick hard shell 
and a small sweet seed. Common northern Hickory-trees are Carya 
ovalis and C. glabra, both with several distinct kinds of nuts. The for- 
mer has slightly scaly bark, ellipsoid, globose or pear-shaped fruit with a 
generally thin husk which splits freely to the base or nearly to the 
base, and a thin-shelled nut too small to be of much value. The bark 
of Carya glabra, usually incorrectly called Pignut, is close and smooth; 
the branchlets are very slender, and the fruit is pear-shaped, much 
compressed and often gradually narrowed below into a stalk-like base; 
the husk is very thin and remains closed until after the fruits have fallen, 
or opens tardily for about a third of its length; the nut is small, glob- 
ose or short-oblong, compressed, and very thin-shelled, with a sweet 
seed. Southward a form of this tree (var. megacarpa) has stouter 
branches, larger buds and larger fruit, with a thicker husk. Of the 
other species, which are all southern, the most widely distributed is 
the variety of C. Buckleyi with pear-shaped fruit (var. arkansana). This 
is the common Hickory of the Ozark region of Missouri and Arkansas, 
and of Texas where it is the common and often the only Hickory from 
the coast to the foot of the Edwards Plateau. 
Hybrid Hickories. A few hybrid Hickory-trees are now known, 
mostly between species of the two groups, Carya cordiformis and 
C. pecan.being usually one of the parents of these hybrids, the excep- 
tion being C. Danbarii, a hybrid of C. laciniosa, and C. ovata from 
the valley of the Genessee River in New York. In the Arboretum 
collection are now growing Carya pecan, C. texana, C. cordiformis, 
C. myristicaeformis, C. ovata, C. ovata fraxinifolia, C. ovata Nut- 
tallii, C. carolinae-septentrionalis, C. laciniosa, C. alba, C. pallida, 
C. glabra, C. glabra megacarpa, C. ovalis, C. ovalis obcordata, C. ova- 
lis odorata, C. ovalis obovalis, C. Buckleyi var. arkansana, and the 
hybrid C. Brownii, and its variety varians, C. Laneyi, and its variety 
chateaugayensis, C. Schneckii, C. Nussbaumerii and C. Danbarii. 
There are also in the collection small plants of a number of named 
forms of C. ovata selected for the size and good quality of their nuts 
to which nut-growers in the northern states are now paying much 
attention. The fact that such southern species as C. texana, which 
grows where sugar is one of the principal crops, and C. myristicaefor- 
mis, which grows only where cotton is successfully cultivated, have 
proved hardy here indicates that it may be possible to establish the 
other southern Hickories in the Arboretum. 
