Shade Trees for North Carolina by William Willard Ashe

Author:William Willard Ashe
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: E. M. Uzell, state printers and binders
Published: 1908-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

TYPICAL KLM, VASE-SHAPED CROWN, FORMED OP MANY ASCENDING STEMS.

and the trunk divides at a low height into many wide-spreading, angular branches and slender, intricate branchlets, which form a large globose or flattened crown. The foliage is small and elm-like and appears delicate green in early spring, maturing by mid-April before that of other species have scarce burst their buds. The root system is like that of the elms, superficial and spreading. Few trees, however, replace roots more rapidly, which enables large specimens to be planted with perfect success. The crowns, even of old trees, endure the most vigorous pruning, but the wood decays with such rapidity that every precaution is necessary to prevent hollows and defective trunks. The wood is brittle and easily broken by sleet and wind storms. Not exacting as to soil, the hackberry makes satisfactory growth, except on dry, heavy clays. Young plants are easily secured from seed which are borne solitary in a small cherry-like berry that matures in the late fall and remains on the tree throughout the winter. It should be spaced 40 feet. Except in its very early leafing and smooth white bark, the hackberry possesses no characters which give it preference above the small-leaved elm. It is planted almost to the exclusion of other species on the streets of Columbia, S. C.

Hickories (Hicoria). —Of the many species of the genus which are native to the State, only three deserve consideration for general shade planting in parks or on roadsides. These are the shagbark, the Carolina shagbark and the red heart or scaly bark.

Shagbark {Hicoria ovata) is one of the most widely distributed trees of the State, occurring along streams and on moist slopes from the coast to an elevation of 3000 feet. As a shade tree, it attains a height of from 60 to 70 feet, making rapid growth in youth and maintaining a healthy condition to an advanced age. The straight cylindrous trunk, covered with long narrow strips of loose gray bark, is excurrent until the tree is well past its youth. The crown of the young tree is pyramidal but becomes broader and more oval as the trunk branches with age. The compound leaves are formed of large drooping leafiets. They are bright green and fragrant when they appear in early spring; afford a dense shade during the summer and turn various tones of yellow and brown in late autumn before falling. While the flowers are not conspicuous, the scales of the winter buds greatly enlarge in unfolding in the spring and assume many delicate shades of red and yellow. The twigs are stout, usually slightly curved and tipped with large acute buds which are conspicuous during the winter. The fruit from which the thick husk freely splits is white, thin-shelled and the most delicately flavored of any native nut. Nuts are usually borne in abundance in this as well as in the other species.

A very large tap-root is rapidly developed in youth which greatly interferes with transplanting even small specimens.

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