4. Staminate flower, enlarged.
5. Pistillate flower, enlarged.
6. Fruit, × 1.
JUGLANDACEAE
Bitternut Hickory
Carya cordiformis (Wang.) K. Koch [Hicoria minima (Marsh.) Britt.] [Carya amara Nutt.]
HABIT.—A tall, slender tree 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2-1/2 feet; forming a broad crown of slender, stiff, upright branches, widest near the top.
LEAVES.—Alternate, compound, 6-10 inches long. Leaflets 5-11, the upper 4-6 inches long and one-fourth as broad; sessile, except the terminal; lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, long-pointed; coarsely serrate; thin and firm; glabrous, bright green above, paler and more or less downy beneath. Petioles slender, hairy. Foliage fragrant when crushed.
FLOWERS.—May, after the leaves; monoecious; the staminate slightly pubescent, in pendulous, ternate catkins 3-4 inches long, on a common peduncle about 1 inch long; scales 3-lobed, hairy; stamens 4, with bearded, yellow anthers; the pistillate in 2-5-flowered spikes 1/2 inch long, scurfy-tomentose; calyx 4-lobed, pubescent; corolla 0; stigmas 2, greenish.