Family: Juglandaceae, Walnut view all from this family

Description Large tree with tall trunk, narrow irregular crown, and distinctive rough shaggy bark.
Height: 70-100' (21-30 m).
Diameter: 2 1/2' (0.8 m).
Leaves: pinnately compound; 8-14" (20-36 cm) long. 5 (rarely 7) elliptical or ovate leaflets, 3-7" (7.5-18 cm) long; stalkless; edges finely saw-toothed and hairy; yellow-green above, paler (and hairy when young) beneath; turning golden-brown in autumn.
Bark: light gray; separating into long narrow curved strips loosely attached at middle.
Twigs: brown; stout; ending in large brown hairy buds.
Flowers: tiny; greenish; in early spring before leaves. Male, with 4 stamens, many in slender drooping catkins, 3 hanging from 1 stalk. 2-5 female flowers at tip of same twig.
Fruit: 1 1/4-2 1/2" (3-6 cm) long nearly round; flattened at tip; with husk thick, becoming dark brown or blackish and splitting to base. Hickory nut elliptical or rounded, slightly flattened and angled, light brown, with edible seed.

Habitat Moist soils of valleys and upland slopes in mixed hardwood forests.

Range Extreme S. Quebec and SW. Maine, south to Georgia, west to SE. Texas, and north to SE. Minnesota; also NE. Mexico; to 2000' (610 m) in north and 3000' (914 m) in southern Appalachians.

Discussion Wild trees and improved cultivated varieties produce commercial hickory nuts. Carolina Hickory (var.australis (Ashe) Little), a variety found in southeastern mountains, has small lance-shaped leaflets and small nuts. The name "hickory" is from pawcohiccora, the American Indian word for the oily food removed from pounded kernels steeped in boiling water. This sweet hickory milk was used in cooking corn cakes and hominy. Pioneers made a yellow dye from the inner bark. The nickname "Old Hickory" was given by his backwoods militia to General Andrew Jackson (afterwards our seventh President) because he was "tough as hickory."