Pignut, hognut, brown hickory, black hickory, switch-bud hickory (Hicoria glabra. Miller).—Leaflets five to seven, mostly seven (Fig. 49), ovate-lanceolate, serrate, smooth; fruit pear-shaped or roundish-obovate; husk very thin, splitting about half way down into four sections or valves, these usually remaining attached to the nut for some time after falling, in fact, may often be found within the husk all through the winter; shell of nut moderately thin but tough, with a small, bitterish-sweet kernel. A large, rather slender tree in similar and same localities as the last, with a close bark but not so deeply furrowed as in the mocker nut (H. tomentosa). Of no special value except as a timber tree, and its slow growth makes it less deserving of attention than those species that bear large and edible nuts.
Synonyms:
Juglans glabra, Miller, 1768.
Juglans alba acuminata, Marshall, 1785.
Juglans obcordata, Lamarck.
Juglans porcina, Michaux.
Juglans pyriformis, Muhlenberg.
Juglans porcina, var. obcordata, Pursh.
Juglans porcina, var. pyriformis, Pursh.
Carya porcina, Nuttall.
Carya glabra, Torrey.
Carya amara, var. porcina, Darby.
[FIG. 50]. BITTERNUT.
[FIG. 51]. BITTERNUT.
Bitternut, swamp hickory, pignut (Hicoria minima. Marshall).—Leaflets seven to eleven, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, smooth and thin; fruit globular, with distinct ridges at the seams (Fig. 50); the husk very thin, and at maturity splitting about halfway to the base, the four divisions becoming reflexed in maturing, but not separating and falling apart as in the thicker-husk species. Nut broadest at the top, sharp-pointed, obcordata (Fig. 51), slightly depressed; shell very thin, smooth, white; kernel intensely bitter when fully ripe, but greedily eaten by squirrels when fresh or in a half milky state. Usually a medium-sized, graceful tree, with smooth bark, slender twigs, and small, oblong buds covered with a dense yellow pubescence in winter. It grows in moist soils, along streams and borders of swamps, and near springs on hill-sides, from Maine to Florida, and westward to Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas. Humphrey Marshall described this species so accurately in his "American Grove," under the name of Juglans minima, p. 68, that there is no good reason to doubt its identity, nor question the validity of this name, which should remain as the true and original one, and all others of later date be placed among the synonyms.
Synonyms:
Juglans (alba) minima, Marshall, 1785.
Juglans cordiformis, Wangenheim, 1787.
Juglans angustifolia, Lamarck, 1791.
Juglans amara, Michaux, 1810.
Hickorius amarus, Rafinesque, 1817.
Carya amara, Nuttall, 1818.