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Published In: Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 12: 444. 1860[1861]. (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia) Name publication detailView 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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8. Carya texana Buckley (black hickory, Ozark pignut hickory)

Pl. 431 g, h; Map 1930

Plants trees to 30 m tall (to 40 m elsewhere), but often much shorter. Bark dark gray to nearly black, smooth or shallowly to deeply furrowed or splitting into plates but remaining firmly attached (not exfoliating). Twigs 2–4(–5) mm thick, reddish brown, the terminal bud 4–8 mm long, reddish brown to dark brown (often appearing golden-frosted because of the abundant small yellow scales), the bud scales strongly overlapping, the bractlets around the axillary buds fused to above or below the midpoint. Leaves with the petiole and rachis glabrous or sparsely and inconspicuously hairy, with 5 or 7 leaflets. Leaflets 3–15 cm long, 1–6 cm wide, lanceolate to oblanceolate or narrowly obovate, straight (appearing symmetrically tapered), the margins finely to coarsely toothed, glabrous, the upper surface glabrous or with scattered to dense, small, irregularly circular, reddish, peltate scales, especially when young, the undersurface with scattered or rarely dense, branched (the branches appearing fasciculate) hairs along the midvein or in the main vein axils, and also with moderate to dense, larger and smaller, irregularly circular (more or less lobed), reddish, peltate scales. Staminate catkins noticeably stalked. Fruits 3–4 cm long, 2.5–3.0 cm wide, globose to more commonly obovoid or somewhat pear-shaped, not or only slightly flattened, smooth or with low ridges along the 4 sutures, the husk 1–3 mm thick, splitting to the base (sometimes only with age), with small, golden yellow scales that wear off with age. Nut not or more commonly slightly flattened, the shell 2–3 mm thick. Seed sweet. 2n=64. April–May.

Scattered to common south of the Missouri River, uncommon farther north in the eastern portion of the Glaciated Plains Division (Indiana to Georgia west to Kansas and Texas). Mesic to dry upland forests, savannas, sand savannas, sand prairies, edges of glades, and margins of sinkhole ponds; also pastures and roadsides; usually on acidic substrates.

Carya texana is often difficult to separate from C. glabra. The scales on the undersurface of the leaf in C. texana are very heterogeneous in size and the large scales are usually crowded enough to give the leaf a rusty appearance, while the scales on the leaves of C. glabra are uniformly tiny, and the leaf undersurface merely looks very finely dark-speckled. The golden-yellow appearance of the winter buds is distinctive; the buds of C. glabra are gray or tawny, or merely dark brown. In the spring, when buds are absent, identifications made without a strong hand-lens or dissecting microscope should be considered tentative.

Plants with the petiole and rachis completely glabrous have been called C. texana f. glabra (E.J. Palmer & Steyerm.) Steyerm.

 


 

 
 
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