Leaves 9′—15′ long, with slender dark red puberulous or tomentose petioles, and 7—13 ovate-lanceolate long-pointed falcate leaflets symmetrical and rounded or cuneate and unsymmetrical and oblique at base, finely or coarsely serrate, sessile or stalked, 3′—5′ long, ½′—1½′ wide, covered with yellow glandular dots, thin, dark green above, brown and lustrous or tomentose on the lower surface, especially on the slender midrib and primary veins, the terminal leaflet more or less decurrent by its wedge-shaped base on a slender stalk or rarely nearly sessile. Flowers: staminate in solitary or fascicled hirsute aments 2½′—3′ long, covered like their bract with yellow glandular pubescence; stamens 6, with yellow puberulous anthers; pistillate in several flowered spikes, oblong, slightly flattened, 4-angled, glandular-pubescent. Fruit often in 3 or 4-fruited clusters, much compressed, usually broadest above the middle, rounded at the slightly narrowed base, rounded or abruptly narrowed at apex, conspicuously 4-winged, dark brown or nearly black, covered more or less thickly with bright yellow-scales, 1½′ long, 1′—1¼′ wide, with a thin brittle husk splitting tardily and usually only to the middle; nut flattened, slightly obovoid, nearly as broad as long, rounded and abruptly short-pointed at apex, rounded at the narrow base, 4-angled and ridged, dark reddish brown, and longitudinally and very irregularly wrinkled, with a thin shell; seed oblong, compressed, dark brown, irregularly and usually longitudinally furrowed, very bitter.
A tree, occasionally 80°—100° high, with a trunk rarely exceeding 2° in diameter, slender upright branches forming a narrow head, and slender dark reddish brown or ashy gray lustrous branchlets marked by numerous pale lenticels, at first slightly glandular and coated with loose pale tomentum, glabrous or puberulous during the summer, and marked during the winter by small nearly oval or obscurely 3-lobed slightly elevated leaf-scars, growing dark red-brown and ultimately gray. Winter-buds slightly flattened, acute, dark reddish brown, covered with caducous yellow scales; terminal ⅛′—¼′ long, often villose; axillary much smaller, frequently nearly sessile, often solitary. Bark ½′—⅔′ thick, separating freely into long loose plate-like light brown scales tinged with red. Wood heavy, strong, close-grained, rather brittle, dark brown, with thick light-colored or often nearly white sapwood; occasionally used for fencing and fuel.
Distribution. River swamps often inundated during a considerable part of the year from southeastern Virginia southward through the coast regions to the shores of Indian River and the valley of the Suwanee River, Florida, through the maritime portions of the Gulf states to the valley of the Brazos River, Texas, and northward through western Louisiana to southeastern Missouri, and to northeastern Louisiana, western Mississippi, and the valley of the lower Wabash River, Illinois; passing into the var. australis Sarg. with narrower leaflets, smaller ellipsoidal fruit, pale red-brown nuts without longitudinal wrinkles, and with close not scaly bark of the trunk. A large tree in dry sandy soil; high banks of the St. John’s River, near San Mateo, Putnam County, near Jupiter, Palm Beach County, banks of the Caloosahatchie River at Alma, Lee County, and Old Town, Lafayette County, Florida; near Marshall, Harrison County, Texas.
5. [Carya myristicæformis] Nutt. Nutmeg Hickory.
Leaves 7′—14′ long, with slender terete scurfy-pubescent petioles, and 7—9, occasionally 5, ovate-lanceolate to broadly obovate acute leaflets usually equally or sometimes unequally cuneate or rounded at the narrow base, coarsely serrate, short-stalked or nearly sessile, thin and firm, dark green above, more or less pubescent or nearly glabrous and silvery white and very lustrous below, 4′—5′ long, 1′—1½′ wide, with a pale scurfy pubescent midrib; changing late in the season to bright golden-bronze color and then very conspicuous. Flowers: staminate in aments 3′—4′ long and coated like the ovate-oblong acute bract and calyx of the flower with dark brown scurfy pubescence; stamens 6, with yellow anthers; pistillate oblong, narrowed at the ends, slightly 4-angled, covered with thick brown scurfy pubescence. Fruit usually solitary, ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, 4-ridged to the base, with broad thick ridges, 1½′ long, coated with yellow-brown scurfy pubescence, the husk not more than 1/32′ thick, splitting nearly to the base; nut ellipsoidal or sometimes slightly obovoid, 1′ long, ¾′ broad, rounded and apiculate at the ends, smooth, dark reddish brown, and marked by longitudinal broken bands of small gray spots covering the entire surface at the ends with a thick hard and bony shell, a thick partition, and a low thin dorsal division; seed sweet, small, dark brown; the lobes deeply 2-lobed at apex.
A tree, 80°—100° high, with a tall straight trunk often 2° in diameter, stout slightly spreading branches forming a comparatively narrow rather open head, and slender branchlets coated with lustrous golden or brown scales often persistent until the second year, light brown or ashy gray during their first winter, ultimately dark reddish brown, and marked by small scattered pale lenticels and small oval emarginate elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds covered with thick brown scurvy pubescence; terminal ⅛′—¼′ long, ovoid, rather obtuse; axillary much smaller, acute, slightly flattened, sessile or short-stalked, often solitary. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, dark brown tinged with red, and broken irregularly into small thin appressed scales. Wood hard, very strong, tough, close-grained, light brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood of 80—90 layers of annual growth.
Distribution. Banks of rivers and swamps in rich moist soil or rarely on higher ground; eastern South Carolina, central Alabama, eastern, and northwestern (bluffs of the Yazoo River at Yazoo City) Mississippi, southern Arkansas, western Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma to Clear Boggy Creek, western Choctaw County, and in Beaumont County, Texas; on the mountains of northeastern Mexico; rare and local; abundant only in southern Arkansas.
6. [Carya ovata] K. Koch. Shellbark Hickory. Shagbark Hickory.
