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Published In: Loudon's Hortus Britannicus. A catalogue . . . 384. 1830. (Hort. Brit.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/25/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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5. Carya laciniosa (F. Michx.) Loudon (shellbark hickory, kingnut)

Pl. 430 d–f; Map 1927

Plants trees to 40 m tall. Bark light gray, exfoliating from the trunk in long curly strips. Twigs 4–6 mm thick, tan to dark brown, the terminal bud 15–24 mm long, tan or more commonly appearing grayish because of the dense hairs, the bud scales strongly overlapping, the bractlets around the axillary buds fused toward the base. Leaves with the petiole and rachis sparsely hairy becoming glabrous with age, with (5)7 or 9 leaflets. Leaflets 9–25 cm long, 4–11 cm wide, lanceolate to oblanceolate, elliptic, or obovate, straight (appearing symmetrically tapered), the margins coarsely toothed, glabrous or with scattered, evenly spaced hairs, the upper surface glabrous or with scattered unbranched and branched hairs, at least when young, also with occasional, small, circular, yellow, peltate scales, the undersurface with scattered unbranched and branched (the branches appearing fasciculate) hairs, also with scattered to dense, smaller, circular (unlobed), reddish brown, peltate scales and often also with scattered, larger yellow scales. Staminate catkins noticeably stalked. Fruits 4–6 cm long, 3.5–5.0 cm wide, globose to slightly ellipsoid, not or only slightly flattened, smooth along the 4 sutures, the husk 5–12 mm thick, splitting to the base, irregularly and minutely hairy. Nut flattened (oval in cross-section), the shell 3–6 mm thick. Seed sweet. 2n=32. April–May.

Scattered widely in the state but absent from much of the Ozark Division (eastern U.S. west to Iowa, Kansas, and Texas; Canada). Bottomland forests, swamps, banks of streams and rivers, and margins of oxbows and sloughs.

In Missouri, C. laciniosa is known to hybridize occasionally with C. illinoinensis (C. ×nussbaumeri Sarg.). Kurz (2003) noted that this species has declined in abundance as the bottomlands of Missouri have been cleared for agriculture and other uses.

 


 

 
 
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