diff --git a/trie/node.go b/trie/node.go
index 1806a7f974..55ecfd4740 100644
--- a/trie/node.go
+++ b/trie/node.go
@@ -51,16 +51,14 @@ type (
 	// intense than using the fullNode type.
 	fullnodeEncoder struct {
 		Children [17][]byte
-		flags    nodeFlag
 	}
 
 	//shortNodeEncoder is a type used exclusively for encoding. Briefly instantiating
 	// a shortNodeEncoder and initializing with existing slices is less memory
 	// intense than using the shortNode type.
 	shortNodeEncoder struct {
-		Key   []byte
-		Val   []byte
-		flags nodeFlag
+		Key []byte
+		Val []byte
 	}
 )
 
@@ -84,20 +82,16 @@ type nodeFlag struct {
 	dirty bool     // whether the node has changes that must be written to the database
 }
 
-func (n *fullNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)         { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
-func (n *fullnodeEncoder) cache() (hashNode, bool)  { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
-func (n *shortNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)        { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
-func (n *shortNodeEncoder) cache() (hashNode, bool) { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
-func (n hashNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)          { return nil, true }
-func (n valueNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)         { return nil, true }
+func (n *fullNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)  { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
+func (n *shortNode) cache() (hashNode, bool) { return n.flags.hash, n.flags.dirty }
+func (n hashNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)   { return nil, true }
+func (n valueNode) cache() (hashNode, bool)  { return nil, true }
 
 // Pretty printing.
-func (n *fullNode) String() string         { return n.fstring("") }
-func (n *fullnodeEncoder) String() string  { return n.fstring("") }
-func (n *shortNode) String() string        { return n.fstring("") }
-func (n *shortNodeEncoder) String() string { return n.fstring("") }
-func (n hashNode) String() string          { return n.fstring("") }
-func (n valueNode) String() string         { return n.fstring("") }
+func (n *fullNode) String() string  { return n.fstring("") }
+func (n *shortNode) String() string { return n.fstring("") }
+func (n hashNode) String() string   { return n.fstring("") }
+func (n valueNode) String() string  { return n.fstring("") }
 
 func (n *fullNode) fstring(ind string) string {
 	resp := fmt.Sprintf("[\n%s  ", ind)
@@ -111,23 +105,9 @@ func (n *fullNode) fstring(ind string) string {
 	return resp + fmt.Sprintf("\n%s] ", ind)
 }
 
-func (n *fullnodeEncoder) fstring(ind string) string {
-	resp := fmt.Sprintf("[\n%s  ", ind)
-	for i, node := range &n.Children {
-		if node == nil {
-			resp += fmt.Sprintf("%s: <nil> ", indices[i])
-		} else {
-			resp += fmt.Sprintf("%s: %x", indices[i], node)
-		}
-	}
-	return resp + fmt.Sprintf("\n%s] ", ind)
-}
 func (n *shortNode) fstring(ind string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("{%x: %v} ", n.Key, n.Val.fstring(ind+"  "))
 }
-func (n *shortNodeEncoder) fstring(ind string) string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("{%x: %x} ", n.Key, n.Val)
-}
 func (n hashNode) fstring(ind string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf("<%x> ", []byte(n))
 }