Young. Medium to large, 1-5/8 x 1 inches; ovate cylindrical, rounded at the base; color grayish-brown, splashed with purplish-brown markings from center to apex; base rounded; apex sloping rather abruptly, nippled; shell brittle, thin, .76 mm.; cracking quality very good; partitions thin; kernel full, plump, slightly wrinkled with broad and shallow sutures; texture fairly solid; flavor sweet, rich, nutty; quality very good.
Obtained from Chas. E. Pabst, Ocean Springs, Miss. Originated by and named for B. M. Young, Morgan City, Louisiana.
HYBRID PECANS.
The pecan appears to inter-pollinate freely with some of the other species of hickory, particularly H. minima, H. laciniosa and H. alba. A number of what are believed to be well-marked hybrids of the pecan with these different species have been found, the most noteworthy of which, perhaps, are given below:
McCallister. (Syn.: Floyd.) Received from O. L. McCallister, Mount Vernon, Ind. This is probably a hybrid. It is the largest nut among all the hickories received at this office. The hull is about one-fourth of an inch thick when dry, and opens readily to the base with four valves. Nut 2-1/8 inches long, 1-5/16 inches wide, and 1-1/16 inches thick; base broad, rounded; apex broad, blunt, angular. In compressed form, in color of nut, also in the angularity and thickness of shell, it is quite similar to shellbark hickory. The kernel of a well-filled specimen is in color, consistency and flavor more like a shellbark of high quality than a pecan. The tree is reported to be "so similar to pecan in bark and leaf that it would be impossible to detect the difference," yet the buds and young wood more closely resemble shellbark. The tree was found many years ago on a farm now owned by Mr. McCallister. The nuts have little pomological value, as grown on the original tree some years, the kernel being shriveled and not filling more than one-third of the space within the shell; yet nuts from the crop of 1893 have been received at the Division of Pomology which were well filled with a kernel of very pleasant flavor. Possibly it may become more uniform in maturing fruit in Mississippi or Texas, where the season is longer than in Indiana. It is well worth a trial by experimenters in those States. Sargent gives a short description of this nut under the name Floyd, and accredits the points of his description to A. S. Fuller in New York Tribune, weekly edition, July 9th, 1892, and says it is perhaps a hybrid. (Nut Culture in the United States, 1896, p. 63-4.)
(Photo by Dr. Wm. Trelease.)
Fig. 14.
The Nussbaumer Hybrid.
Nussbaumer. In the American Agriculturist for 1884, p. 546, fol., A. S. Fuller published an account of a supposed hybrid between this species and the pecan, which has been called the Nussbaumer hybrid, after J. J. Nussbaumer, of Okawville, Ill., who first brought it to the attention of Judge Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo. Mr. Nussbaumer writes me that the original tree, which stands in the bottom between Mascoutah and Fayetteville, Ill., in general appearance resembles laciniosa, though the bark is intermediate between that of the Pecan and Mockernut. Prof. Sargent states (Silva, vii, 158) that a small tree grown from this in New Jersey, by Mr. Fuller, cannot be distinguished from laciniosa of the same age; and I should hardly be able to distinguish an imperfect twig from a small tree, cultivated by Judge Miller, from laciniosa. The nut, however, is very peculiar, being more elongated than is usual in that species, and widened upwardly, less acutely angled "as if the ridges had been sandpapered down," and so thin-shelled that it can be crushed easily by pressing two together in the palm of the hand. A somewhat similar nut, originally from Indiana, was described by Mr. Fuller In the New York Weekly Tribune, July 9, 1892 (Sargent's Silva, l.c.), as cultivated by R. M. Floyd, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. And in the autumn of 1895, Dr. J. Schneck sent me ample fruit, twig and leaf specimens of a similar hickory from Posey county, Indiana. The nut of this last is almost identical with a specimen of the Nussbaumer nut in the Englemann herbarium, while its twigs closely resemble those of laciniosa, and the leaves are decidedly of the pecan type. I am led to the conclusion, therefore, that these several forms really represent hybrids between H. pecan and H. laciniosa. In size, quality, and thinness of shell they appear to be the most valuable of American nuts. (Trelease, Wm., 7th Report Mo. Bot. Garden, 1896, pp. 40-41.)
Pooshee. Size small, 1-1/4 x 7/8 x 3/4 inches; ovate, flattened wedged, sutures prominent; color dull brown with a very few dark lines at the apex; base rounded; apex flattened abruptly, short pointed; shell medium in thickness, 1.5 mm.; partitions thin, 4-celled at base; kernel rounded in outline, light yellow in color, sutures broad, shallow, halves indented at base; surface much wrinkled and corrugated; flavor sweetish.