Bitternut Hickory
Carya cordiformis (Wangenh.) K. Koch.
Also known as Swamp Hickory.
Mature Size: Typically 50 to 70 feet in height and 1 to 2½ feet in diameter.
Form: Slender straight trunk with a broad pyramid-shaped or rounded crown.
Habitat: Grows best on moist, rich slopes and bottomlands, but will tolerate poor, dry soils.
Leaves
Alternate, pinnately compound, 7 to 10 inches long with 7 to 9 long, oval, toothed leaflets, dark yellow-green above and lighter below.
Flowers
Yellow-green; males on 3 to 4 inch, drooping catkins, with 3 hanging from one stalk; females short, 4-angled, at twig ends.
Fruit
Mostly round but slightly flattened; 1¼ inch long, partially splitting from the middle to the sharp-pointed tip; husk thin and 4-winged above the middle, often dusty- yellow looking; 4-ribbed nut smooth, rounded, thin-shelled and bitter.
Bark
Thin, tight and hard; at first smooth and silvery gray, later gray with shallow furrows and interlacing ridges.
Twigs
Somewhat thick; leaf scars 3-lobed; end buds clamshell-like, oblong, 4- angled, covered with sulfur-yellow to brown fuzz.
Values and Uses
The wood is hard, strong and heavy, with reddish-brown heartwood. It is used for tool handles, furniture, paneling, flooring, pallets, crates, fuelwood, pulpwood, lumber, charcoal and the smoking of meats. Although the bitter nuts are not favored by wildlife, they are eaten when other foods are not available.
Did You Know?
The leaves are very high in calcium and improve the soil as they decompose. Early settlers extracted oil from the nuts to burn in oil lamps.
