Part 10 (1/2)

b.u.t.tERNUT. OILNUT. LEMON WALNUT.

=Habitat and Range.=--Roadsides, rich woods, river valleys, fertile, moist hillsides, high up on mountain slopes.

New Brunswick, throughout Quebec and eastern Ontario.

Maine,--common, often abundant; New Hamps.h.i.+re,--throughout the Connecticut valley, and along the Merrimac and its tributaries, to the base of the White mountains; Vermont,--frequent; Ma.s.sachusetts,--common in the eastern and central portions, frequent westward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Delaware, along the mountains to Georgia and Alabama; west to Minnesota, Kansas, and Arkansas.

=Habit.=--Usually a medium-sized tree, 20-45 feet in height, with a disproportionately large trunk, 1-4 feet in diameter; often attaining under favorable conditions much greater dimensions. It ramifies at a few feet from the ground and throws out long, rather stout, and nearly horizontal branches, the lower slightly drooping, forming for the height of the tree a very wide-spreading head, with a stout and stiffish spray.

At its best the b.u.t.ternut is a picturesque and even beautiful tree.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk dark gray, rough, narrow-ridged and wide-furrowed in old trees, in young trees smooth, dark gray; branchlets brown gray, with gray dots and prominent leaf-scars; season's shoots greenish-gray, faint-dotted, with a clammy p.u.b.escence. The bruised bark of the nut stains the skin yellow.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds flattish or oblong-conical, few-scaled, 2-4 buds often superposed, the uppermost largest and far above the axil. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate, 1-1-1/2 feet long, viscid-p.u.b.escent throughout, at least when young; rachis enlarged at base; stipules none; leaflets 9-17, 2-4 inches long, about half as wide, upper surface rough, yellowish when unfolding in spring, becoming a dark green, lighter beneath, yellow in autumn; outline oblong-lanceolate, serrate; veins prominent beneath; apex acute to ac.u.minate; base obtuse to rounded, somewhat inequilateral, sessile, except the terminal leaflet; stipels none.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing while the leaves are unfolding, sterile and fertile flowers on the same tree,--the sterile from terminal or lateral buds of the preceding season, in single, unbranched, stout, green, cylindrical, drooping catkins 3-6 inches long; calyx irregular, mostly 6-lobed, borne on an oblong scale; corolla none; stamens 8-12, with brown anthers: fertile flowers sessile, solitary, or several on a common peduncle from the season's shoots; calyx hairy, 4-lobed, with 4 small petals at the sinuses; styles 2, short; stigmas 2, large, feathery, diverging, rose red.

=Fruit.=--Ripening in October, one or several from the same footstalk, about 3 inches long, oblong, pointed, green, downy, and sticky at first, dark brown when dry: sh.e.l.ls sculptured, rough: kernel edible, sweet but oily.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in any well-drained soil, but prefers a deep, rich loam; seldom reaches its best under cultivation. Trees of the same age are apt to vary in vigor and size, dead branches are likely to appear early, and sound trees 8 or 10 inches in diameter are seldom seen; the foliage is thin, appears late and drops early; planted in private grounds chiefly for its fruit; only occasionally offered in nurseries, collected plants seldom successful.

Best grown from seed planted where the tree is to stand, as is evident from many trees growing spontaneously.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE XXII.--Juglans cinerea.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower, side view.

4. Fertile flower.

5. Fruit.

6. Leaf.

=Juglans nigra, L.=

BLACK WALNUT.

=Habitat and Range.=--Rich woods.

Maine, New Hamps.h.i.+re, and Vermont,--not reported native; Ma.s.sachusetts,--rare east of the Connecticut river, occasional along the western part of the Connecticut valley to the New York line; Rhode Island,--doubtfully native, Apponaug (Kent county) and elsewhere; Connecticut,--frequent westward, Darien (Fairfield county); Plainville (Hartford county, J. N. Bishop _in lit._, 1896); in the central and eastern sections probably introduced.

South to Florida; west to Minnesota, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A large tree, 50-75 feet high, with a diameter above the swell of the roots of 2-5 feet; attaining in the Ohio valley a height of 150 feet and a diameter of 6-8 feet; trunk straight, slowly tapering, throwing out its lower branches nearly horizontally, the upper at a broad angle, forming an open, s.p.a.cious, n.o.ble head.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees thick, blackish, and deeply furrowed; large branches rough and more or less furrowed; branchlets smooth; season's twigs downy.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate or rounded, obtuse, more or less p.u.b.escent, few-scaled. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; rachis smooth and swollen at base, but less so than that of the b.u.t.ternut; stipules none; leaflets 13-21 (the odd leaflet at the apex often wanting), opposite or alternate, 2-5 inches long, about half as wide; dark green and smooth above, lighter and slightly glandular-p.u.b.escent beneath, turning yellow in autumn; outline ovate-lanceolate; apex taper-pointed; base oblique, usually rounded or heart-shaped; stemless or nearly so, except the terminal leaflet; stipels none. Aromatic when bruised.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing while the leaves are unfolding, sterile and fertile flowers on the same tree,--the sterile along the sides or at the ends of the preceding year's branches, in single, unbranched, green, stout, cylindrical, pendulous catkins, 3-6 inches long; perianth of 6 rounded lobes, stamens numerous, filaments very short, anthers purple: fertile flowers in the axils of the season's shoots, sessile, solitary or several on a common peduncle; calyx 4-toothed, with 4 small petals at the sinuses; stigmas 2, reddish-green.

=Fruit.=--Ripening in October at the ends of the branchlets, single, or two or more together; round, smooth, or somewhat roughish with uneven surface, not viscid, dull green turning to brown: husk not separating into sections: sh.e.l.l irregularly furrowed: kernel edible.