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Bitternut Hickory - Carya cordiformis
Walnut Family: Juglandaceae
Also called bitternut, swamp hickory, and pignut hickory. It is the
shortest lived of the hickories, to about 200 years. The dark brown
close-grained hardwood is highly shock resistant which makes it
excellent for tool handles. It also makes good fuel wood and is planted
as an ornamental or shade tree.
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Pecan Leaves
Bitternut hickory is probably the most abundant and most
uniformly distributed of all the hickories. It grows
throughout the eastern United States from southwestern New
Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and southern Quebec; west to
southern Ontario, central Michigan, and northern Minnesota;
south to eastern Texas; and east to northwestern Florida and
Georgia. It is most common,
however, from southern New England west to Iowa and from
southern Michigan south to Kentucky.
Bitternut hickory grows in moist mountain valleys along
streambanks and in swamps. although it is usually found on
wet bottom lands, it grows on dry sites and also grows well
on poor soils low in nutrients. In the northern part of its
range, bitternut hickory is found on a variety of sites. It
grows on rich, loamy, gravelly soil in low wet woods, and
along the borders of streams in Michigan, but it is also
found on dry uplands. In the southern part of its range,
bitternut is more restricted to moist sites. It reaches its
largest size on the rich bottom lands of the lower Ohio
River Basin. In the southeastern part of its range,
bitternut grows on overflow bottom land, but in its
southwestern range, it is common on poor, dry, gravelly
upland soils. Bitternut is not found in the mountain forests
of northern New England and New York, nor at higher
elevations in the Appalachians. |
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Bitternut hickory develops a dense
root system with a pronounced taproot. It is windfirm
and can be transplanted more successfully than any other
hickory species. Saplings are easily damaged by fire,
and older trees also are susceptible to fire damage
because of the low insulating capacity of the hard bark.
Nuts of all hickory species are susceptible to attack by
the hickory nut weevil (Curculio caryae). Another weevil
(Conotrachelus aratus) attacks young shoots and leaf
petioles. The Curculio species are the most damaging,
often destroying 65 percent of the hickory nut crop.
Bitternut is used for lumber and pulpwood. Pecan
hickories such as bitternut are not equal to true
hickories in strength, hardness, or toughness. Hickory
species are most desirable for charcoal and fuelwood;
pecan hickories are less desirable than the true
hickories. Bitternut hickory ranks third in heating
value among hickories; it burns with an intense flame
and leaves little ash. Because bitternut hickory wood is
hard and durable, it is used for furniture, paneling,
dowels, tool handles, and ladders. It is a choice fuel
for smoking meats. |
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This Bitternut Hickory was started from seed 25 years ago. |
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