Read Ebook: Trees of Indiana First Revised Edition (Publication No. 13 Department of Conservation State of Indiana) by Deam Charles Clemon

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Trees with hard, tight or scaly bark; leaflets alternate, odd-pinnate, glandular-dotted beneath; leaflets serrate, usually unequal at the base, the lateral sessile or nearly so, the terminal short-stalked, the lowest pair the smallest, upper pair and terminal the largest, bruised leaflets characteristically aromatic; staminate flowers in slender catkins, anthers hairy; pistillate flowers in small clusters; fruit a bony nut contained in a woody husk which separates more or less completely from the nut into four parts.

There are now recognized fifteen species and several varieties of hickory, all of which grow in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Hickory grows in no other place in the world, except one species in northern Mexico. The wood of the different species of hickory is not of equal commercial value, but the wood of the commercial species heads the list of Indiana woods for strength, toughness and resiliency.

The individuals of the several species vary much in respect to their bark, size and pubescence of the twigs, number and size of the leaflets, size and shape of the nuts. No attempt will be made to deal with all of the extreme forms, and only those reported by Heimlich and Sargent will be discussed.

Bud scales 4-6, valvate , leaflets generally curved backward.

Leaflets 9-17, generally about 13; nut elongated, circular in cross-section; kernel sweet 1 C. illinoensis.

Leaflets 5-9, generally 5-7; nut about as broad as long, compressed in cross-section; kernel bitter 2 C. cordiformis.

Bud scales more than 6, imbricated ; leaflets not curved backward.

Branchlets usually stout; terminal buds large, 7-25 mm. long; the year's growth usually more or less hairy; dry husks 4-10 mm. thick.

Prevailing number of leaflets 5 3 C. ovata.

Prevailing number of leaflets more than 5.

Trees of low ground; bark of young trees tight and light, of older trees scaly, separating into long thin plates; branchlets usually light orange color; nuts usually large, compressed, 3-6 cm. long, pointed at base 4 C. laciniosa.

Trees of high ground; bark of young trees tight and dark, of older trees tight and deeply furrowed, the thick ridges broken into short lengths which on very old trees loosen at the base; branchlets reddish-brown; nuts usually about half as large as the preceding and usually with a rounded base 5 C. alba.

Branchlets usually slender; terminal buds small, 5-12 mm. long; the year's growth usually glabrous, rarely hairy; dried husk 1-2.5 mm. thick.

Branchlets and leaves not covered when they first appear with rusty-brown pubescence.

Prevailing number of leaflets 5; fruit usually smooth and tapering at base to a short stem ; shell of nut thick, kernel sweet and astringent 6 C. glabra.

Prevailing number of leaflets generally 7; fruit usually granular, rarely tapering at the base to a short stem ; shell of nut thin, kernel sweet without astringency 7 C. ovalis.

Branchlets and leaves densely covered when they first appear with rusty-brown pubescence 8 C. Buckleyi.

Young says that there are two trees in Jefferson County, one planted, the other probably native. Coulter says "there are several trees in the river bottoms."

There are several trees on the Elisha Golay farm about one mile east of Vevay which are in rows, which show that they were planted. The largest has a trunk 2.2 m. long and a circumference of 31 dm. It followed the north fork of White River as far as Greene County, and the south fork of White River as far as Seymour. A pioneer told me he remembered a small colony in the eastern part of Washington County in the bottoms near the Muscatatuck River. In Indiana it is found only in very low land which is subject to overflow.

The species is very variable and no dependence can be placed upon such characters as pubescence of the twigs, leaves or fruit, size of the twigs, color of the anthers, size or shape of the nuts.

The wood of the shellbark and the big shellbark hickories is the most used of all the hickories because it is generally freer from knots and blemishes. Hickory is used principally for carriage and wagon stock, agricultural implements, handles and fuel. The supply of hickory is fast waning, and in the near future will be limited.

The hickories are very slow growing trees. They develop a long tap root, hence are hard to transplant. Hickory should constitute an important part of the woodlot. If this species is not well represented, germinated nuts should be planted. The nut of this species usually sells for .00 to .00 per bushel, which should encourage land owners to plant it in the open along fences and about the orchard. It should be remembered that hickory will not stand much tramping by stock.

Sargent has described five varieties of this species, three of which he credits to Indiana. The writer has sent him specimens from over 100 trees of this species, and he has variously distributed them to the type and varieties. Heimlich has reported Sargent's determination of many of these specimens in the Proc. Ind. Acad. Science, 1917:436-439:1918. The writer cannot agree with the determinations and believes further field study is necessary to discover characters by which the several forms can consistently be divided.

To stimulate the study of this species, the original description of the varieties together with Sargent's characterization of the type are quoted because they are contained in a book not usually found in libraries. To these descriptions are added new characters which Sargent gives in his revision of the hickories in Bot. Gaz. 66:245-247:1918.

"In the shape of the fruit and in the thickness of its involucre this tree is of four distinct forms; in all of them the involucre splits freely to the base, or nearly to the base, the shell of the nut is thin and the seed, although small, is sweet and edible. The extremes of these forms are very distinct, but there are forms which are intermediate between them, so that it is difficult to decide sometimes to which of the forms these intermediate forms should be referred. The first of these forms, as the fruit agrees with Wangenheim's figure, must be considered the type of the species. The fruit is oval, narrowed and rounded at the base, acute at the apex, usually from 2.5-3 cm. long and about 1.5 cm. in diameter. The involucre is from 2-2.5 mm. thick and occasionally one of the sutures remains closed. The nut is oblong, slightly flattened, rounded at the base, acute or acuminate and four-angled at the apex, the ridges extending for one-third or rarely for one-half of its length, from 2-2.5 cm. long and about 1.5 cm. in diameter. The shell is usually about 1 mm. thick." "The type of this species and its varieties have glabrous or rarely slightly pubescent leaves, with usually 7 thin leaflets."

Trees or shrubs with simple, petioled, alternate leaves; staminate flowers in long drooping catkins, 1-3 in the axil of each bract, the pistillate in short lateral or terminal aments; fruit a nut or samara.

Staminate flowers solitary in the axil of each bract, without a calyx, pistillate flowers with a calyx; nut wingless.

Bark of tree smooth; staminate aments in winter enclosed in bud scales; nut exposed, its subtending bract more or less irregularly 3-cleft 1 Carpinus.

Bark of older trees shreddy; staminate aments in winter naked; nut enclosed in a bladder-like bract 2 Ostrya.

Staminate flowers 3-6 in the axil of each bract, with a calyx, pistillate flowers without a calyx; nut winged.

Winter buds sessile; stamens 2; fruit membranous and hop-like; fruiting bract deciduous at the end of the season when the nut escapes 3 Betula.

Winter buds stalked; stamens 4; fruit woody and cone-like; fruiting bracts woody and persisting after the nuts escape 4 Alnus.

It is found with the species, but is not so frequent.

Trees and shrubs with bark tight, scaly or separating into very thin plates and peeling off transversely, whitish or dark colored; staminate catkins developing in autumn and dehiscing in early spring before or with the appearance of the leaves, pistillate catkins ovoid or cylindric; fruit a small winged flat seed, bearing at the apex the two persistent stigmas.

Bark of twigs usually with a slight wintergreen flavor; leaves with 7-15, usually 9-11 pairs of prominent veins; rounded or slightly cordate at the base; fertile catkins generally 10 mm. or more in diameter. 1 B. lutea.

Bark of twigs usually bitter, not wintergreen flavored; leaves with 4-11, usually 4-9 pairs of prominent veins, more or less obtusely angled at the base; fertile catkins generally less than 10 mm. in diameter .

Bark of trunk chalky-white; fruiting aments drooping or spreading.

Bark below base of lateral branches darkened-triangular in outline; leaves long acuminate and lustrous above; staminate catkins usually solitary. 2 B. populifolia.

Bark below base of lateral branches not darkened; leaves ovate and not lustrous above; staminate catkins usually 2-3. 3 B. papyrifera.

Bark of trunks dark; fruiting aments erect or nearly so. 4 B. nigra.

All of the birches, especially the horticultural forms, are used more or less for ornamental planting. They are beautiful trees but are short lived.

Trees or shrubs; bark astringent; staminate and pistillate catkins begin to develop early in summer and flower the following year early in the spring before the leaves appear; bracts of the fertile catkins thick and woody, obdeltoid with 3-rounded lobes at the apex; nuts obovate, reddish-brown.

Leaves sharply double-serrate, the ends of the primary veins forming the apex of the larger teeth, glaucous beneath; nuts with a narrow thick margin 1 A. incana.

Leaves single-serrate, pale beneath; nuts without margins 2 A. rugosa.

Trees with simple, alternate, petioled leaves; flowers of two kinds; fruit a one-seeded nut. This is the most important family of trees occurring in the State.

Winter buds long and slender, at least 4 times as long as wide; staminate flowers in globose heads on drooping peduncles; nuts sharply 3-angled 1 Fagus.

Winter buds not long and slender and less than 4 times as long as wide; staminate flowers in slender catkins; nuts not as above.

Staminate catkins erect or spreading; nut flattened on one side and enclosed in a spiny, woody husk 2 Castanea.

Staminate catkins drooping; nuts not flattened on one side, seated in a scaly, woody cup 3 Quercus.

Beech was formerly used only for fuel, but in the last few decades it has been cut and used for many purposes, and the supply is fast diminishing. The beauty of this tree both in summer and winter, sunshine or storm makes it one of the most desirable for shade tree planting, but I have failed to find where it has been successfully used. It is one of the few trees that does not take to domestication. When the original forest is reduced to a remnant of beech, as a rule, the remaining beech will soon begin to die at the top. It is difficult to transplant. When planted the hole should be filled with earth obtained from under a living tree, in order to introduce the mycorrhiza that is necessary to the growth of the tree.

This species is easily propagated by seed or seedlings. It is recommended for forest planting in all parts of its natural range and other parts of the State where the soil is very sandy and free from limestone. This species never attains to an old age when growing close to the limestone. It grows rapidly and requires little pruning. The only objection to planting it for forestry purposes is that it might be infested by the chestnut bark disease which is fatal to this tree. This disease is far to the east of us, and there are wide barriers to its western migration. Since a chestnut grove would soon grow into post and pole size, in the event the grove would be killed by the bark disease, the crop could be harvested and the loss would be more of the nature of a disappointment than a financial one. If planted in a cleared area the seedlings should be spaced about 5 x 5 feet if no cultivation can be done. If the trees can be cultivated, plant 7 x 7 or 8 x 8 feet and grow corn for one or two years between the rows.

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