p will be seen on examination to show the
minute, snugly curled-up leaves which are ready to burst forth when the
springtime sun opens the fronds of the ferns which have forced their way
through the hard ground with clenched fists. The scale buds in the
open-bud group do not cover the tiny leaf forms completely.
In _Eucarya_, or the "closed-bud" group, stout scales close the bud
completely against the snow and ice of wintry days, so that we see
scales only when looking at the bud. The closed-bud hickories include
the shagbark, _Carya ovata_, the Carolina hickory, _Carya
Carolinae-septentrionalis_, the shellbark, _Carya laciniosa_, the
mockernut, _Carya alba_, the smooth-bark hickory, _Carya leiodermis_,
the pallid hickory, _Carya pallida_, the close-bark pignut, _Carya
glabra_, the loose-bark pignut, _Carya ovalis_, the Florida hickory,
_Carya Floridana_, the Buckley hickory, _Carya Buckleyi_, and the
Mexican hickory, _Carya Mexicana_.
Hickories which have nuts with a bitter pellicle, all belong to the
open-bud group. These are the bitternut, Texas hickory, and water
hickory. Hickories with scaly bark are found in both groups. In the
open-bud group, the trunk of the water hickory carries long loose bark
strips attached by one end, and in the closed-bud group, we find this
characteristic belonging to the shagbark, shellbark, Carolina hickory,
and to one of the pignuts, Carya ovalis. That takes us to another
occasion for a note. What do we mean by "pignut?" In the North, this
term is applied to Carya glabra and Carya ovalis. In the South, it is
applied to Carya cordiformis. A name so well established, will have to
be retained, but in our Association it will perhaps be best to have an
understanding about which one of the hickories the common name pignut
should belong. So long as it already covers two species in the North as
opposed to one in the South, there are already two votes to one in favor
of retaining the name pignut for Carya glabra and Carya ovalis. We may
describe these in plain language as the smooth-bark pignut and the
loose-bark pignut. The reason for choosing the name "loose" instead of
"scaly" is because we are pretty well agreed upon applying the name
"scalybark" to the Carolina hickory, the name "shagbark" to Carya ovata,
and the name shellbark to Carya laciniosa. The name bitternut may
safely be allowed to remain with Carya cordiformis because the other two
nuts with bitter pellicle already have distin
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