Family: Juglandaceae, Walnut view all from this family

Description Nut tree with rounded crown and leaves that are very aromatic when crushed.
Height: 50-80' (15-24 m).
Diameter: 2' (0.6 m).
Leaves: pinnately compound; 8-20" (20-51 cm) long, with hairy axis; 7 or 9 leaflets, 2-8" (5-20 cm) long; elliptical or lance-shaped; finely saw-toothed; nearly stalkless. Shiny dark yellow-green above, pale and densely hairy and glandular beneath; turning yellow in autumn.
Bark: gray; irregularly furrowed into narrow forking ridges.
Twigs: brown; stout, hairy, ending in large hairy bud.
Flowers: tiny; greenish; in early spring before leaves. Male, with 4-5 stamens; many in slender drooping catkins, 3 hanging from 1 stalk. Female, 2-5 flowers at tip of same twig.
Fruit: 1 1/2-2" (4-5 cm) long; elliptical or pear-shaped; becoming brown; with thick husk splitting to middle or nearly to base. Hickory nut rounded or elliptical, slightly 4-angled, thick-shelled, with edible seed.

Habitat Moist uplands and less frequently on flood plains; usually with oaks, also pines.

Range Extreme S. Ontario east to Massachusetts, south to N. Florida, west to E. Texas, and north to SE. Iowa; to 3000' (914 m) in southern Appalachians.

Discussion The wood of this common hickory and related species is prized for furniture, flooring, tool handles, baseball bats, skis, and veneer. Hickory wood has a very high fuel value, both as firewood and as charcoal, and is the preferred wood for smoking hams. People must arrive early to gather hickory nuts before they are consumed by squirrels and other wildlife. The former Latin species name, tomentosa, meaning "densely covered with soft hairs," describes the undersurfaces of leaflets, a characteristic that makes this tree easily identifiable.