Bitternut Hickory

Carya cordiformis,Walnut family (Juglandaceae)

Leaves:
Leaves are pinnately compound, 8-14” long.  Each leaf has 7 to 9 leaflets. Leaves are yellowish green on top, light green below Leaflets are lance-shaped with saw-toothed edges. Leaflets are usually all about the same size (in comparison to Shagbark Hickory that has larger leaflets at the end of the leaf).

Bark:
Bark is smooth on young trees and forms shallow furrows in an x-shaped pattern on older trees.

Flowers:
Separate male and female flowers on same tree (monoecious). Flowers are very small, green, wind-pollinated. Flowers produced in early spring before leaves.

Fruit:
Nuts enclosed in thin husk with yellow scales. Nuts are very bitter, hence the name Bitternut.

Bitternut Hickory leaf, twig, and fruit (photo source #12)


Bitternut Hickory leaf (photo source #6)

 

 

 

 



The bark of older Bitternut Hickory trees has shallow
x-shaped marks in a criss-cross pattern. (photo source #5)

 

 

 

Bitternut Hickory nuts are smaller and have thinner
husks than Shagbark Hickory nuts (photo source #12)

Photo Sources
5.  Fox, V., DePauw University
6.  Harlow, W.M.  1957.  Trees of the eastern and central United States and Canada.  Dover Publications, Inc., New York.
11.  Petrides, G.A.  1972.  A field guide to trees and shrubs.  Peterson field guide series.  Houghton-Mifflin Company, New York.
12.  Petrides, G.A. and J. Wehr.  1998.  A field guide to eastern trees.  Peterson field guide series.  Houghton-Mifflin Company, Boston.