9. [Carya alba] K. Koch. Hickory.
Leaves glandular, resinous, fragrant, 8′—12′ long, with petioles covered like the rachis and the under surface of the leaflets with fascicled hairs, and 5 or 7 oblong-lanceolate to obovate-lanceolate leaflets gradually or abruptly acuminate, mostly equilateral, equally or unequally rounded or cuneate at base, minutely or coarsely serrate, sessile or short-stalked, dark yellow-green and rather lustrous above, lustrous, paler or light orange-colored or brown on the lower surface, the upper leaflets 5′—8′ long and 3′—5′ wide, and two or three times as large as those of the lowest pair. Flowers: staminate in aments 4′—5′ long, with slender light green stems coated with fascicled hairs, pale yellow-green, scurfy-pubescent, with elongated ovate-lanceolate bracts ending in tufts of long pale hairs, and three or four times as long as the calyx-lobes; stamens 4, with oblong bright red hirsute anthers; pistillate in crowded 2—5-flowered spikes, slightly contracted above the middle, coated with pale tomentum, the bract ovate, acute, sometimes ¼′ long, about twice as long as the broadly ovate nearly triangular bractlets and calyx-lobes; stigmas dark red. Fruit ellipsoidal or obovoid, gradually narrowed at the ends, acute at apex, abruptly contracted toward the base, rarely obovoid with a stipe-like base (var. ficoides Sarg.), or ovoid with a long acuminate apex (var. ovoidea Sarg.), pilose or nearly glabrous, dark red-brown, 1½′—2′ long, with a husk about ⅛′ thick splitting to the middle or nearly to the base; nut nearly globose, ellipsoidal, obovoid-oblong or ovoid, narrowed at ends, rounded at base, acute, and sometimes attenuated and long-pointed at apex, much or only slightly compressed, obscurely or prominently 4-ridged, light reddish brown, becoming darker and sometimes red with age, with a very thick hard shell and partitions; in drying often cracking transversely; seed small, sweet, dark brown, and lustrous.
A tree, rarely 100° high, usually much smaller, with a tall trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, comparatively small spreading branches forming a narrow or often a broad round-topped head of upright rigid or of gracefully pendulous branches, and stout branchlets clothed at first with pale fascicled hairs, rather bright brown, nearly glabrous or more or less pubescent, and marked by conspicuous pale lenticels during their first season, becoming light or dark gray, with pale emarginate leaf-scars almost equally lobed, or elongated with the lowest lobe two or three times as long as the others. Winter-buds: terminal broadly ovoid, acute or obtuse, ½′—¾′ long, two or three times as large as the axillary buds, the three or four outer bud-scales ovate, acute, often keeled and apiculate, thick and firm, dark reddish brown and pilose, usually deciduous late in the autumn, the inner scales ovate, rounded or acute and short-pointed at apex, light green covered with soft silky pubescence on the outer, and often bright red and pilose on the inner surface, becoming 1′—1½′ long and ½′ broad. Bark ½′—¾′ thick, close, slightly ridged by shallow irregular interrupted fissures and covered by dark gray closely appressed scales. Wood very heavy, hard, tough, strong, close-grained, flexible, rich dark brown, with thick nearly white sapwood; used for the same purposes as that of the Shellbark Hickory.
Distribution. Eastern Massachusetts southward to Lake County, Florida, and eastern Texas, and through Ohio, southwestern Ontario, southern Michigan, Illinois and Indiana to southeastern Iowa, and through Missouri to eastern Oklahoma; comparatively rare at the north, growing on dry slopes and ridges and less commonly on alluvial bottom-lands; absent from eastern Canada, northern and western New England, and New York except in the neighborhood of the coast; the most abundant and generally distributed Hickory-tree of the southern states, growing to its largest size in the basin of the lower Ohio River and in Missouri and Arkansas; commonly in southern Arkansas and eastern Texas, and occasionally in other southern states represented by var. subcoriacea Sarg., differing in its larger, thicker, more pubescent leaflets, more prominently angled fruit with a thicker husk, larger nuts, and in its longer winter-buds often ⅘′ long and ¾′ in diameter.
× Carya Schneckii Sarg., believed to be a hybrid of C. alba and C. pecan, has been found at Lawrenceville, Lawrence County, Illinois, and near Muscatine, Muscatine County, Iowa.
10. [Carya leiodermis] Sarg.
Leaves 12′—14′ long, with slender petioles and rachis slightly or densely pubescent with fascicled hairs, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous, and 7 or rarely 5 thin finely serrate leaflets, long-pointed at apex, and gradually narrowed, cuneate and unsymmetrical at base, at first hoary tomentose below and pubescent above, becoming dark green and lustrous on the upper surface and pale and slightly pubescent on the lower surface, especially on the stout midrib, the terminal oblong-obovate with a stalk ⅕′—⅗′ in length, or nearly sessile, of the same shape and often smaller than the nearly sessile upper leaflets, 4′—5′ long and 2′—2½′ wide, and much larger than the lanceolate lower leaflets. Flowers: staminate opening after the leaves have grown nearly to their full size, in slender puberulous aments 4′—4½′ long; bract of the flower ovate, lanceolate, ciliate on the margins with long white hairs mixed with stipitate glands, a third longer than the ciliate calyx-lobes; stamens 4, anthers red, covered with long rigid white hairs; pistillate in short spikes, their involucre and bracts densely clothed with white hairs. Fruit broadly obovoid, smooth, glabrous or puberulous, covered with scattered white scales, 1½′—1¾′ long, about 1¼′ in diameter, the husk ⅕′ to nearly ¼′ thick, opening freely to the base usually only by two sutures; nut ellipsoidal or slightly obovoid, little compressed, rounded at the ends, tinged with red, with a shell ⅙′—⅕′ thick; seed small and sweet.
A tree 60°—75° tall with a trunk occasionally 3° in diameter, stout often pendulous branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender reddish brown lustrous branchlets puberulous or pubescent when they first appear, becoming glabrous or nearly glabrous by the end of their first season. Winter-buds: terminal acute, about ½′ long, the outer scales pubescent, the inner covered with appressed pale hairs and ciliate on the margins; axillary buds ovoid and rounded at apex or subglobose. Bark close, pale, only slightly ridged.