Bark smooth at first, then breaking into long, flat, irregular gray strips, to 5 mm thick, usually attached at the apex, free at the base. Branches stout, smooth, spreading to ascending. Twigs stout, orange-brown, leaf scars large. Buds (terminal), 10 to 20 mm long, 6 to 8 mm in diameter, scales imbricate. Leaves alternate, deciduous, odd-pinnately compound with 5 to 7 leaflets, usually 5 to 18 cm wide and 20 to 35 cm long; lateral leaflets ovate to ovate-lanceolate, terminal leaflet usually obovate, apices acute to acuminate, margins finely serrate, bases wedge-shaped, more or less yellow, pubescent below, gradually becoming glabrous with age. Flowers unisexual, appearing in spring with the developing leaves, staminate in 3-lobed catkins, pistillate on new growth. Fruits subglobose, 2.5 to 6 cm in diameter, husk 3 to 5 mm thick, shell of nut hard and moderately thin, meat sweet. [Illustration: Shagbark Hickory/_Carya ovata_] Bitternut Hickory _Carya cordiformis_ (Wangenh.) K. Koch Bark brown to slate gray, smooth to lightly furrowed or with strongly interlaced ridges. Branches stiff, ascending, spreading. Twigs slender, glossy, often with yellow glands early in the season. Buds compressed, ovoid, 6 to 10 mm long, covered with yellow, valvate glandular scales. Leaves alternate, deciduous, odd-pinnately compound, 15 to 25 cm long with 7 to 9 leaflets, 7 to 15 cm long and 3 to 6 cm wide; lateral leaflets narrowly to broadly elliptic, terminal leaflet largest and usually obovate, apex acuminate, margin finely serrate, base wedge-shaped, with yellow glands on undersurfaces and on rachis. Flowers unisexual, staminate in 3-branched catkins appearing after leaves; pistillate terminal on new growth. Fruit ovate to subglobose, 2 to 3 cm in diameter, often slightly compressed, 4-winged on sutures from apex to middle of husk, husk thin, covered with yellow glandular scales, shell of nut thin, meat very bitter. [Illustration: Bitternut Hickory/_Carya cordiformis_] Southern Red Oak _Quercus falcata_ Michx. [Illustration: silhouette] Bark dark brown to grayish black, divided by shallow, irregular fissures into broad ridges. Branches stout, spreading to ascending. Twigs 2 to 5 mm in diameter, dull reddish brown. Buds ovoid, angulate 8 to 13 mm long, apex acute. Leaves alternate, deciduous, simple, many remaining as dead foliage until spring, ovate to obovate with bell-shaped base, 10 to 28 cm long, 7 to 30 cm wide; with 3 to 9 lobes and margins with deep rounded sinuses; when 3-lobed, central lobe strap-shaped and toothed near the apex and side lobes acute to acuminate, somewhat falcate; permanently pubescent below, white at first, turning rust. Flowers unisexual, staminate in tomentose catkins as leaves unfold; pistillate in leaf axils on twigs. Fruit an acorn, small, spherical to hemispherical; cup 12 to 15 mm wide, shallow saucer-shaped, enclosing about one-fourth to one-half of the nut; nut 8 to 12 mm long.