Bitternut Hickory 

Although the bitternut hickory is a very close relative to the pecan, as its name suggests, it is not considered edible to humans due to the extremely bitter and unpleasant taste of its nut. This is one nut that even squirrels tend to avoid, though other wildlife including rabbits, beavers and other small mammals occasionally feed on the bark of the bitternut hickory. That said, the wood is a popular choice for smoking meats, particularly ham and bacon. This slender shade tree also attracts birds and butterflies, and is a host tree for some particularly beautiful and impressive moths such as the Luna, the Giant Regal and the Funeral Dagger.  

Bitternut Hickory Carya cordiformis (Wangenh.) K. Koch  

COMMON NAMES bitternut hickory, pecan hickory, swamp hickory  

QUICK GUIDE Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, with 7 to 11 leaflets; buds sulfur yellow, valvate; fruit husk with winged sutures above the middle; bark gray-brown with tight interlacing ridges forming a diamond pattern.  

DESCRIPTION Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, deciduous, and up to 25 cm (9.8 in) long, with 7 to 9 (sometimes 11) leaflets. Leaflets are obovate to lanceolate, 5-15 cm (2.0-5.9 in) long, and sessile; margin is serrate; underside is lightly pubescent; rachis lightly pubescent; autumn color is yellow. Twigs are gray-brown and lightly pubescent, with lenticels; leaf scar is heart shaped with numerous bundle scars. The terminal bud is about 1.5 cm (0.6 in) long, falcate, and flattened; scales are valvate, sulfur yellow, scurfy, and pubescent. Flowers are imperfect and appear with the leaves in the spring; staminate flowers are in drooping catkins; pistillate flowers are in terminal spikes. Fruit is a nut, nearly round and pointed, about 2.5 cm (1.0 in) long, and lightly ridged, with a bitter kernel; husk is thin, with four sutures that are thinly winged above the middle and split to the base; fruit matures in the fall. Bark is gray-brown and smooth on small trees; bark on large trees is fissured with tight interlacing ridges forming a diamond pattern. The growth form is up to 30 m (100 ft) in height and 1 m (3 ft) in diameter.  

HABITAT Moist to wet soils.  

NOTES Bitternut hickory is found with shagbark hickory, sugarberry, numerous ashes, tulip-poplar, eastern cottonwood, spruce pine, white oak, northern red oak, bottomland oaks, basswood, and American elm. The wood is white to red-brown, hard, and heavy, and is used for pulpwood, handles, furniture, flooring, novelty items, ladders, skis, and fuel. The nuts are very bitter but are eaten by some wildlife.  

Carya is derived from a Greek word meaning “walnut tree”; cordiformis means “heart shaped.”