CARYA OLIVÆFORMIS, Pecan Nut
- Carya olivæformis, Nuttall, Gen. Am. ii. 221 (1818); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. iii. 1441 (1838).
- Carya angustifolia, Sweet, Hort. Brit. 97 (1827).
- Carya illinoinensis, Koch, Dendrol. i. 593 (1869).
- Carya Pecan, Schneider, ex Sargent in Bot. Gazette, xliv. 226 (1907).
- Juglans Pecan, Marshall, Arbust. Am. 69 (1785).
- Juglans illinoinensis, Wangenheim, Nordam. Holz. 54 (1787).
- Juglans angustifolia, Aiton, Hort. Kew, iii. 361 (1789).
- Juglans cylindrica, Poiret, in Lamarck, Dict. iv. 505 (1797).
- Juglans olivæformis, Michaux, Fl. Bor. Am. ii. 192 (1803).
- Hicoria Pecan, Britton, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, xv. 282 (1888); Sargent, Silva N. Amer. vii. 137, tt. 338, 339 (1895), and Trees N. Amer. 133 (1905).
A tree, attaining in America 170 feet in height and 18 feet in girth. Bark, brownish, deeply and irregularly divided into narrow forked ridges. Buds, similar to those of C. amara, but greyish-white in colour, densely pubescent and without glands; lateral buds ovoid, pointed. Young branchlets densely pubescent, especially towards the tip, where no glands are present, but with minute glands at the base of the shoot. Leaves (Plate 203, Fig. 6), 12 to 20 inches long. Leaflets, eleven to thirteen or more, rarely nine, lanceolate, falcate, subsessile, acuminate, very unequally divided by the midrib; upper surface with stellate pubescence on the midrib and nerves; lower surface covered throughout with fine scattered pubescence and numerous glands ; margin plainly ciliate ; rachis densely pubescent.
Staminate flowers in sessile or subsessile clustered catkins, usually on the previous year’s branchlets. Fruit in clusters of three to eleven, pointed, four-winged and -angled, 1 to 2½ inches long, ½ to 1 inch broad; husk thin, brittle, dark-brown, coated with yellow pubescence, splitting when ripe nearly to the base; nut, thin- shelled, reddish-brown with irregular black markings ; seed sweet, reddish-brown. (A.H.)
The Pecan is a native of the Middle States, occurring from Indiana, Southern Illinois and Iowa, southward through Western Kentucky and Tennessee to Alabama and Mississippi,-and extending westward through Missouri, South-Eastern Kansas, Arkansas, Indian Territory and Louisiana to the valley of the Concho River in Texas. It is also met with in the mountains of Mexico.
It chiefly grows on rich alluvial soil, along the banks of streams, and attains a greater size than any other hickory. Ridgway says it is one of the very largest trees of the forest, being only exceeded in height by the tulip tree and the scarlet oak. He records one tree, measured by Dr. Schneck, which was 175 feet high by 16 feet in girth, and another 3o feet in girth at the ground. It is largely cultivated in the Southern States for its fruit, which has been improved by selection and grafting, and is considered the best of the nuts of North America.
It requires a much longer and hotter summer than any part of Great Britain affords ; and even in the south of Europe we have not heard of its being successfully
