1. Butternut. 2. Black Walnut. 3. Pignut Hickory. 4. Mockernut
Hickory. 5. Shagbark Hickory. 6. Bitternut Hickory.
Chapter V
THE WALNUTS AND HICKORIES
Family Juglandaceæ
Few trees are more lofty and majestic than certain species of walnuts and hickories. They are stately in summer, but in winter, when the foliage has gone and every branch and twig is thrown in black relief against the sky, their beauty is truly imposing.
Both walnuts and hickories are valuable timber trees, and the nuts of several species are sweet and edible.
Two genera of this family are found in America,—Juglans and Hicoria. Of the first genus there are two species native in the Northeastern States,—the butternut and the black walnut.
Butternut Juglans cinerea
A low, spreading tree, branching a short way up the trunk. Gray bark, slightly fissured, the clefts not running together. Recent shoots downy, with a fringe of hair over the leaf-scar. Leaf-scars conspicuous, alternate, the bundle-scars horseshoe (U) shaped. Light brown buds destitute of scales. Terminal bud encloses pistillate flowers, which are fertilized by the staminate flowers enclosed in the pineapple-like bud over the leaf-scars. These staminate flowers hang in one long catkin, which drops off after shedding the pollen in spring. The superposed buds (two or three over the leaf-scars) contain the side branches. Pith light brown and chambered,—by cutting a twig lengthwise this can be seen,—a characteristic of the Juglans family.
