Habitat

• native to southwestern Canada down through Florida
• zone 4

Habit and Form

• large deciduous tree
• 50' to 75' tall
• cylindrical, irregular crown
• coarse texture
• medium growth rate

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• odd pinnately compound, deciduous leaves
• 6" to 10" long
• 5 to 9 leaflets
• sharply serrated leaf margins
• pubescent, light green color

Autumn Foliage

• fall color is yellow to golden
• very attractive

Flowers

• catkins
• not ornamentally important

Fruit

• rounded nut
• 1" in diameter
• thick shell surrounds nut, splits at base when mature
• edible

Bark

• gray to brown color
• shallowly ridged
• stout, gray stems
• smooth

Culture

• prefers deep, well-drained soil
• has a large taproot, which makes transplanting difficult
• full sun to partial shade

Landscape Uses

• for fruit
• for unique bark
• naturalized areas
• for barbecues (hickory smoked meat)

Liabilities

• fruit can be a litter problem
• few pest and disease problems

ID Features

• alternate leaf arrangement
• odd pinnately compound leaf with 5 to 9 leaflets
• edible round nut
• terminal bud is imbricate with a blunt tip, yellow
• terminal bud with 2 to 4 visible pubescent scales

Propagation

• by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

• none