he same tree,
appearing when the leaves are fully grown,--sterile at the base of the
season's shoots, in pendulous, downy, slender catkins, 3-5 inches long,
usually in threes, branching umbel-like from a common peduncle; scales
3-lobed, nearly glabrous, lobes of nearly equal length, pointed, the
middle narrower; stamens mostly 4, anthers yellowish, beset with white
hairs: fertile flowers at the ends of the season's shoots; calyx
4-toothed, pubescent, adherent to the ovary; corolla none; stigmas 2.

=Fruit.=--October. Single or in pairs, sessile on a short, terminal
stalk, shape and size extremely variable, pear-shaped, oblong, round, or
obovate, usually about 1-1/2 inches in diameter: husk thin, green
turning to brown, when ripe parting in four sections to the center and
sometimes nearly to the base: nut rather thick-shelled, not ridged, not
sharp-pointed: kernel much inferior in flavor to that of the shagbark.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all
well-drained soils, but prefers a deep, rich loam; a desirable tree for
ornamental plantations, especially in lawns, as the deep roots do not
interfere with the growth of grass above them; ill-adapted, like all the
hickories, for streets, as the nuts are liable to cause trouble; less
readily obtainable in nurseries than the shellbark hickory and equally
difficult to transplant. Propagated from the seed.

[Illustration: PLATE XXVI.--Carya porcina.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3, 4. Sterile flower, back view.
5. Fertile flower, side view.
6. Fruiting branch.

=Carya amara, Nutt.=

_Hicoria minima, Britton_.

BITTERNUT. SWAMP HICKORY.

=Habitat and Range.=--In varying soils and situations; wet woods, low,
damp fields, river valleys, along roadsides, occasional upon uplands and
hill slopes.

From Montreal west to Georgian bay.

Maine,--southward, rare; New Hampshire,--eastern limit in the
Connecticut valley, where it ranges farther north than any other of our
hickories, reaching Well's river (Jessup); Vermont,--occasional west of
the Green mountains and in the southern Connecticut valley;
Massachusetts,--rather common, abundant in the vicinity of Boston; Rhode
Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida, ascending 3500 feet in Virginia; west to
Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian territory, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A tall, slender tree, 50-75 feet high and 1 foot-2-1/2 feet in
diameter at the