Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch.

Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 1-2 feet; trunk in close stands straight and free from branches to a good height; in the open short and bearing a rounded or oblong crown.

Leaves.—Alternate, compound, 8-14 inches long; leaflets usually 5, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, serrate, ciliate on the margins, firm, dark yellow-green and glabrous above, paler and nearly glabrous beneath; petioles usually smooth, sometimes hairy.

Flowers.—May; monoecious; the staminate in pendulous catkins; the pistillate in 2-5-flowered spikes.

Fruit.—Round-oval, nearly smooth, 1-2 inches in diameter; husk thick, splitting freely to the base; nut 4-angled, with a thick or thin wall; kernel sweet and edible.

Bark.—Gray; on old trunks very rough, separating into long loose strips which give the trunk its characteristic shaggy appearance.

Wood.—Hard, heavy, tough, strong, close-grained, pliable, light brown with nearly white sapwood.

Range.—Southern Canada and Minnesota south to Florida and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—A common tree except on the highest mountains. Reported as not plentiful in Wetzel, Roane, Jackson and Summers counties.

Habitat.—Thrives best in rich, damp soils, common along streams and on moist hillsides.

Notes.—The Shellbark Hickory furnishes much of the valuable wood used where strength and toughness are required. The tree is known best to most people on account of its excellent nuts. It can be profitably grown from seed.