Habitat

• native to Quebec and southwest to Texas
• zone 4

Habit and Form

• large deciduous tree
• up to 80' tall
• about two-thirds as wide
• very straight central leader
• tree is cylindrical with branches ascending and descending
• coarse texture

Summer Foliage

• alternate leaf arrangement
• odd pinnately compound leafs, up to 14" long
• 5 leaflets, sometimes there are 7
• each leaflet is 4" to 6" long and about 2" wide
• elliptical leaf shape with serrated leaf margins
• leaflets are pubescent when young
• deep yellow-green leaf color

Autumn Foliage

• fall color is yellow to golden
• very attractive

Flowers

• catkins
• not ornamentally important

Fruit

• rounded nut
• 1" to 1.5" in diameter
• thick shell surrounds nut, splits at base when mature
• edible with a sweet taste

Bark

• old bark shags into long plates, generally free at the bottom and attached at the center
• plates are strongly recurved
• gray brown color

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 leaflets
• edible round nut
• "shagging" bark
• leaves have apple aroma when crushed
• terminal bud is imbricate with a blunt tip, brown
• terminal bud with 2 to 4 visible pubescent scales

Propagation

• by seed

Cultivars/Varieties

• none