ANOMALOUS HICKORY-NUT 
133 
AN ANOMALOUS HICKORY-NUT. 
GUY WEST WILSON. 
During the fall of 1914 the writer observed in the vicinity 
of Iowa City a tree of the common shag-bark hickory {Cary a 
ovata (Mill.) K. Koch.) which produced a number of abnormal 
nuts. As none of these were found with the husk intact no 
data can be given except for the nuts themselves. Bicarpillary 
fruits were not uncommon on this tree as at least a dozen ex- 
amples were found without making a careful search. In most 
instances the paired nuts separated readily and showed no ten- 
dency toward adhesion. They were, however, very much flat- 
tened on the appressed surfaces. A cross section of these nuts 
showed them to be normal except in shape. Both lobes of the 
embryo were well developed, but somewhat distorted by the 
pressure. The walls' of the shell were of about the same thick- 
ness on the free sides as were those of normal unicarpillary nuts 
from the same tree, while the inner appressed walls were very 
thin. 
Among these paired nuts one example was found of what 
appeared to be a complete union of the two nuts into one with 
a resultant form suggestive of a fasciation. Upon attempting 
to cross-section this specimen, however, the two parts separated, 
leaving evidence of but a partial adhesion of the two nuts which 
had been borne in this bicarpillary husk. A cross section showed 
that the embryo of each of these nuts was developed in the 
same manner as were those of the other paired nuts. The most 
noteworthy points were the exceedingly thin walls of the nuts 
on the sides adjacent to each other and the manner in which 
the pressure of each upon the other had deformed the embryos. 
Both of these pushed out on the same side of the fruit with the 
same resultant form as that which appeared in the paired nuts. 
