Magnum Bonum. Medium, ovate; shell thin; partitions thin; kernel plump, sweet; quality very good. (Hume, Bul. 54, Fla. Exp. Station, 1900, 207).
Mammoth. (Syn.: Steckler's Mammoth.) Large to very large, 2 x 1 inches; form ovate; color dull gray, pebbled, with a very few dark lines at the apex; base rounded; apex flattened, four-angled, blunt; shell thick, 1.4 mm.; cracking quality very poor; partitions corky, very thick; kernel bright yellowish-brown with broad, deep sutures and fuzzy lining adhering to kernel; texture coarse; flavor sweet and good; quality quite good.
Obtained of J. Steckler Seed Company.
Fig. 7a. The Mantura Pecan.
Mantura. Size large, 2 x 13/16, 1-7/8 x 7/8 inches; oblong, oval; color dull reddish-brown liberally marked with large, irregular black splashes; base taper-pointed, blunt; apex sharp-pointed, nippled; shell very thin, .78 mm.; brittle, dense; cracking quality very good; partitions thin; kernel dark straw-colored, plump, smooth, oval, with open sutures of medium depth; texture firm, solid; flavor sweet, nutty; quality very good indeed.
Described from specimens received from Wm. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va., by whom it was named and introduced in 1906.
The original tree of this variety stands on the Mantura homestead, in Surry county, Va., two miles south of the James river, now owned by W. P. Wilson. Mr. Wilson's mother planted four trees from nuts secured from a tree at Surry Courthouse, Va., the Mantura being one of the four, The parent tree measures about fourteen feet around the body, and bears crops of good sized nuts. It stands about ten miles from the site of the Mantura tree.
The Mantura tree is a large, symmetrical specimen with wide-spreading branches. It is about eighty feet high and measures about eleven feet around the trunk. It has been bearing for the past fifteen years, and in 1905 yielded 275 pounds of nuts.
This variety will doubtless prove a valuable acquisition for planters on the northern limits of the pecan area, as the particular strain from which it comes has been growing in Virginia for more than sixty years.