Download Carya cordiformis

BITTERNUT HICKORY
Some people and animals enjoy eating Hickory nuts. They probably find most of them to be
very tasty. However, there are some Hickory nuts that aren’t so tasty. One of them is the
Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis [Wangenheim] K. Koch).
Bitternut Hickory is a member of the Order Fagales, the Family Juglandaceae, the Subfamily
Juglandoideae, the Tribe Juglandeae, and the Subtribe Caryinae.
The generic name, Carya, is from the ancient Greek word, karuon, which is “walnut”. The
specific epithet, cordiformis, is Latin for “heart-shaped”, named for the shape of the nut or for
the base of the leaflets.
Other scientific synonyms for this species were Carya amara (Michaux f.) Nuttall ex Elliott,
Hicoria cordiformis (Wangenheim) Britton, H. minima (Marshall) Britton, Juglans alba L., and
J. cordiformis Wangenheim.
The common name, hickory, may have come from the Algonquian words, pawhiccorri,
pohickery, pockerchickory. Other common names for this species are Bitternut, Bitter Pecan,
Bitter Walnut, Pig Hickory, Pig Walnut, Swamp Hickory, and Yellow Bud Hickory.
Bitternut Hickory is a slow-growing and a long lived tree. However, it is the fastest growing
and the shortest lived of the Hickory species.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BITTERNUT HICKORY
Height: Its height is 50-100 feet.
Diameter: Its diameter is 1-3 feet.
Trunk: Its trunk is tall, straight, and clear.
Crown: Its crown is broad, short or oblong, and rounded or pyramidal with stout, spreading or
ascending branches.
Twigs: Its twigs are green, gray-brown, light brown, hairless, and slender to stout. It has
lenticels. Its leaf scars are small, slightly elevated, and shield shaped or oval with numerous
bundle scars. Its pith is solid, brownish white, and star-shaped. White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus
virginianus Zimmermann) may eat these twigs.
Buds: Its terminal bud is bright sulfur yellow, powdery, pointed, slightly flattened, and over ½
inches long. Its lateral buds are about ¼ inches long, alternate, and 4-angled. Its bud scales are
arranged in valvate pairs and do not overlap at their margins. Squirrels (Family Sciuridae) may
eat these buds.
Leaves: Its leaves are alternate, odd-pinnately compound, and deciduous. Each leaf is about 6-12
inches long, shiny dark yellow green above, light green and slightly hairy below, and is
composed of 5-13 (usually 7-9) leaflets. The petioles are hairy, slender, and have no stipules.
Each leaflet is about 2-6 inches long, about 1-2 inches wide, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic,
and sessile. These leaflets are the smallest of all of the Hickory leaflets. The terminal leaflet is
slightly larger and has a short stalk. The leaflets have resin dots, a tapered or rounded base, a
pointed tip, and fine saw-toothed margins. These leaflets are all attached to a slender, hairy
rachis.
In the fall, these leaves turn golden yellow, rusty yellow, orange brown, or brown. They are
fragrant when crushed. White-tailed Deer eat these leaves.
Flowers: Its flowers are monoecious. Both sexes are borne separately but upon the same tree.
The male flowers are arranged in yellow, hairy, 2¾-4 inch long, slender, 3-branched catkin
clusters. Each flower has 3 bracts, sepals, no petals, and 4 stamens.
The female flowers are arranged in clusters of 1-5 short, 4-angled, green, hairy spikes upon the
same twig. Each flower has 3 bracts and 1 pistil.
These flowers are all wind-pollinated. Flowering season is April to June.
Fruit: Its fruit is arranged solitarily or in pairs. It is about 1-1½ inches in diameter. These fruits
are nearly rounded and are slightly flattened with a short point. Its 4-parted husk is thin, light
yellow-green, and leathery with small yellow powdery scales. It splits open from the tip to the
middle along 4 wings to reveal a single seed (nut).
The nut is smooth, red-brown, cylindrical, cordated, thin-shelled, and has a pointed tip. It is
about ¾-1 inch in diameter. Its interior has 2 large, irregular lobes (cotyledons). Its tannin
content is high, which gives it a bitter taste. Eastern Cottontail Rabbits (Sylvilagus floridanus
J.A. Allen), Squirrels, other Rodents (Order Rodentia), and White-tailed Deer may eat these nuts
if no other foods are available. These seeds usually spread by gravity or by water.
These trees begin producing fruit after 25-30 years. They produce bumper crops every 3-5
years. Fruiting season is September to October.
Bark: Its bark is thin and tight. The young bark is light gray to green gray and has yellow to red
vertical lines that become cracks. The mature bark is light gray to light brown and is shallowly
furrowed into vertical forking ridges. The older bark has long, flat, tough ridges that form
diamond-shaped furrows. This bark is not scaly or shaggy.
Wood: Its wood is strong, hard, heavy, tough, shock resistant, and resilient. It is also closegrained, straight-grained, and ring-porous. Its heartwood is dark brown and its sapwood is light
brown to white and thick. It is the most brittle wood of all Hickory species.
Roots: Its roots consist of a prominent taproot. This tree is wind firm.
Habitat: Its habitats can vary from wet bottomlands to dry uplands. It is moderately shade
intolerant when young but becomes more shade intolerant as it matures.
Range: Its range consists of most of the eastern U.S and parts of southeastern Canada, as far
west as the Great Plains. It excludes the upper Great Lakes, northern New England, Florida, and
the Gulf Coast. It is the most common, the most widely distributed, and the most northern
Hickory species.
Uses of the Bitternut Hickory:
The oil from the nutmeat and husks were used for oil lamps. The oil may also have been used
as a cure for rheumatism.
The bark infusion was used as a diuretic, a purgative, and a panacea.
The wood has many uses. It is used for making bows, wheel spikes, copperage, ladders, dowel
pins, furniture, cabinetry, flooring, paneling, fence posts, tool handles, pallets, and pulpwood.
This wood can dull cutting tools, split when nailed, and doesn’t adhere well to glue. If untreated,
this wood can shrink, warp, or check.
The wood makes ideal fuel. It is slow burning and leaves little smoke or ash. It is best for
smoking meats, especially ham and bacon.
REFERENCES
MICHIGAN TREES
By Burton V. Barnes and Warren H. Wagner, Jr.
TREES OF PENNSYLVANIA AND THE NORTHEAST
By Charles Fergus and Amelia Hansen
TREES OF THE EASTERN AND CENTRAL UNITED STATES AND CANADA
By William M. Harlow
FOREST TREES OF ILLINOIS
By Jay C. Hayek, Editor
101 TREES OF INDIANA
By Marion T. Jackson
OUR NATIVE TREES
By Harriet L. Keeler
TREES OF ILLINOIS
By Linda Kershaw
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
By Bruce Kershner, Daniel Mathews, Gil Nelson, and Richard Spellenberg
TREES OF MISSOURI
By Don Kurz
TREES OF THE CENTRAL HARDWOOD FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Donald J. Leopold, William C. McComb, and Robert N. Muller
THE AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN TREES (EASTERN REGION)
By Elbert L. Little
HOW TO KNOW THE TREES
By Howard A. Miller and H.E. Jaques
NATIVE AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Daniel E. Moerman
A NATURAL HISTORY OF TREES OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL NORTH AMERICA
By Donald Culross Peattie
EASTERN TREES
By George A. Petrides
NORTH AMERICAN TREES
By Richard J. Preston, Jr., and Richard R. Braham
RED OAKS AND BLACK BIRCHES
By Rebecca Rupp
THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO TREES
By David Allen Sibley
OHIO TREES
By T. Davis Sydnor and William F. Cowen
NATIVE TREES OF THE MIDWEST
By Sally S. Weeks, Harmon P. Weeks, Jr., and George R. Parker
IDENTIFYING TREES
By Michael D. Williams
BARK: A FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF THE NORTHEAST
By Michael Wojtech
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carya_cordiformis