Leaf Scars of Mockernut Hickory

One thing that I find interesting about winter twigs are leaf scars; in some species they are incredibly consistant while in others such as mockernut hickory (Carya abla) they are extrememly variable.  Here I illustrated 3 lateral buds and their associated leaf scars as well as outlines showing the variety of shapes of leaf scars that were on this one twig.

Alternate Leaf Dogwood in Winter

Alternate-leaf dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) is a less than common native shrub or small tree in this area of Ohio.  I see C.alternifolia in both floodplains and along headwater streams and 9 times out of 10 my first impression is that it is a young sassafras tree.  On older twigs it can be hard to see that the leaf scars are alternate - they appear bunched even whorled sometimes however if you find a young fast growing twig it is clear that the tree is alternate.  You will almost always notice that one of the lower branches will be dead or will have dead twigs - they will stand out as a bright orange branch.



young twig

 


old twig and dead twig

 

Polychromos



I have no formal education in art and I really don’t know much about the technical side of colored pencils but I do know that I get really frustrated when I break a pencil point or worse when the pencil lead breaks somewhere down inside the pencil. I can’t tell you how mad I get when I sharpen a pencil and then notice that the led is wobbling from a crack 1-2cm inside the pencil. This seems to always happen to me with Prismacolor pencils and since I often sketch in the woods it can be aggravating especially when I don’t have a sharpener besides a pocket knife. At some point I found that Crayola pencils were much more durable in the field and inexpensive, a basic set can be picked up at any Walgreens or CVS, so I have used Crayola for quite some time. Recently I had more than one suggestion to try Faber-Castell Polychromos, so I did. The local art store had a bunch of the 25th Anniversary Polychromos sets on sale so I picked one up. I was pretty disappointed with the colors in the set but really liked drawing with them, so I ordered a bunch of greens, browns and grays. So far they are great and I have not had a single broken lead.

Here are some sketches I made in the field with my Polychromos.



An old eastern hemlock snag.

My field set-up for a quick sketch with the new greens, browns and grays.

Some of the stuff in the fen that day.

A dead twig with what I think is common green shield lichen

The bright orange twig and buds of black willow stood out against the grays of the day

Skunk cabbage starting to flower and stink

Delicate Thuidium moss as green as it is in June

Bright red twigs of red-osier dogwood

and

Sensitive fern AKA bead fern fertile fronds (these are the beads)

Hickory Nuts

I have taken some time over the last two winters to pick up hickory nuts and do some illustrations, here they are.  I know that these would be much more valuable if I were able to add scale to the images, but at this time I am not.

Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) these small nuts are about 2-4 cm tall with a thin husk. Notice in the top right image the sutures are slightly winged - most of the other hickory species have smooth sutures.  Pecan (Carya illinoensis) has winged sutures - I have not sketched pecan yet...

Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) these nuts are slightly larger (3-4.5 cm) than bitternut hickory and have a distinctive pear-shape.  The actual nut surface is smoother and less angled than bitternut hickory and shagbark hickory. Pignut hickory and sweet pignut hickory (Carya ovalis) are difficult to tell apart, however the most often described difference is in the mature fruit.  The difference: the husks of pignut do not split all the way to the base of the fruit however occasionally they will along 1 of 4 sutures, sweet pignut husks split all the way to the base along all sutures when mature (see below)

Fruit of sweet pignut hickory (Carya ovalis) similar shape and size as pignut but with sutures splitting all the way to the base of the fruit.

Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) fruits are about 3-5 cm in length they are oval to round and do not have a distinct pear shape.  The husk is very thick (3-12 mmm) and freely splits all the way to the base.  The actual nut is strongly angled.  The insides are tasty.

Last but not least is shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa) often times called kingnut hickory the fruit of this beast are 5-9 cm in size.  The husk of the fruit is also very thick 8-12 mm.  Also very tasty on the inside.

Terminal Buds of Four Hickories

A look just at the terminal buds of four different native hickories: Clockwise from top left - shagbark hickory (C. ovata), bitternut hickory (C. cordiformis), pignut hickory (C. glabra) and mockernut hickory (C. alba). Colored pencil.

Hickory Twigs

Pignut hickory (Carya glabra) here are two different winter twigs. You may notice that I originally labeled the top one as sweet pignut hickory (C. ovalis) a very similar species, so similar that many consider them the same tree. If you want to see what the twig of C. ovalis looks like look at the pictures above because it is almost identical. There is supposedly a difference between the fruits of the two species - I will post sketches of those differences soon.

Mockernut hickory (C. alba) is one of my all time favorite trees. I dont know why they changed the name of this tree from Carya tomentosa to Carya alba; tomentosa was much more fitting as everything about this tree is tometose. The leaves, twigs, buds, leaf rachis are all as furry as can be.

Shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa) often holds its leaf rachises well into the winter, this sketch still needs some lenticels added to the twig to finish it up, but you get the idea. Another common name for this hickory is kingnut hickory and you would know why if you saw one of the baseball sized fruits. All done in colored pencil.

Bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis) unmistakable yellow terminal buds

Various Twigs

Above is the twig and leaf scars of blue ash (Fraxinus quadrangulata)



Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)  showing leaf buds and a flowering bud (turban-like)

Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) twig is one of the few species having noticeably green twigs.

Sweet gum

A corky-winged twig of sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)

And a sketch of the famous "gum ball" fruit



Basswood

Two looks at winter basswood twigs

Sambucus

Two species of elderberry in winter

Yellow Poplar

The fall fruit and winter twig of a tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Northern Catalpa

Northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa)

American Beech

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) - unmistakable cigar-shaped terminal bud!

Witch-hazel

Twig of witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) illustrated in mid-December

Winter Twigs

Top to Bottom: red osier dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), pawpaw (Asimina triloba), musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana), Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) and American basswood (Tilia americana)

Twig Variety

More winter twigs... Left to Right - black oak (Quercus velutina), bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis), tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra).

Oak Twigs

Here is a trio of winter oak twigs white (Q. alba), black (Q. velutina) and bur (Q. macrocarpa)

Zanthozylem

Zanthozylem americanum or prickley-ash is a native midwestern shrub.

Botanical Illustrations

Here are some more botanical illustrations in colored pencil. The top one is of a Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca) cone early in the year when it is still green. The next is of a Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) showing both young leaves and the pink spring flowers. Prints Available.  Last one is of a winter bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) twig that is still holding onto a leaf.

OHIO

OK, so my firs blog worked and the image even appeared! The above image is dedicated to my new home state - Ohio. The image is again in colored pencil and is of a Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) leaf bud breaking dormancy.