SHELLBARK HICKORY (_Hicoria laciniosa_) is often mistaken for shagbark. The ranges of the two species coincide in part only. Shagbark grows farther east, north and south than shellbark. The latter occupies an island, as it were, inside the shagbark’s range. Shellbark is found from central New York and eastern Pennsylvania, westward to Kansas, and southward to North Carolina and middle Tennessee. The species is at its best in the lower Ohio valley and in Missouri. The largest trees are 120 feet high and three in diameter, and are often free from branches half or two-thirds of the length. The species prefers rich, deep bottom lands, and does not suffer from occasional inundation from overflowing rivers. The average tree is not quite as large as shagbark. The leaves are larger than those of any other hickory, ranging in length from fifteen to twenty-two inches. There are from five to nine leaflets, usually seven. The upper ones are largest, and may be eight or nine inches long and four or five wide. In the autumn the leaflets drop from the petioles which adhere to the branches and furnish means of identifying the tree in winter. The nuts including the hulls are as large as small apples. When ripe, the hulls open and the nuts fall out; but the hulls fall also. The nuts are as large as shagbark nuts, but the two are seldom distinguished in market, though the shagbark’s are a little richer in flavor. The bark’s roughness gives the tree its name. Strips three or four feet long and five or six inches wide curl up at the lower ends--sometimes at both ends--and adhere to the trunk several years. The species has other names. It is known as big shellbark in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas; bottom shellbark in Illinois; western shellbark or simply shellbark in Rhode Island and Kentucky; thick shellbark in South Carolina, Indiana, and Tennessee; kingnut in Tennessee. The wood weighs 50.53 pounds per cubic foot, and is very hard, strong, tough, and flexible. The heartwood is dark brown, the sapwood nearly white. This hickory usually has less sapwood in proportion to heart than other members of the species; but the wood is not kept separate from the others when it goes to market, and its uses are as extensive as the other hickories’. It is believed by some foresters that shellbark hickory is worth cultivating for its nuts, as it is a vigorous bearer; but little planting has been done. East of the Alleghanies, particularly in Virginia, some planting has been carried out on old plantations for ornamental purposes. On account of its long taproot, the tree is difficult to transplant, and the nuts should be planted where the trees are expected to remain. [Illustration] PECAN [Illustration: PECAN] PECAN (_Hicoria Pecan_)