Alternate name: Swamp Hickory, Bitter Water Hickory

Family: Juglandaceae, Walnut view all from this family

Description Tree with tall straight trunk, stout branches, narrow open crown of handsome bronze foliage, and edible nuts.
Height: 80' (24 m).
Diameter: 2' (0.6 m).
Leaves: pinnately compound; 7-14" (18-36 cm) long, with slender scurfy hairy axis. 5-9 leaflets, 2-5" (5-13 cm) long; broadly lance-shaped; finely saw-toothed; short-stalked. Dark green and hairy above, shiny whitish beneath; becoming bright golden-bronze in autumn.
Bark: gray or brown; fissured, with long thin scales.
Twigs: brown, with tiny yellow or brown scales; slender.
Flowers: tiny; greenish; in early spring before leaves. Male, with 6-7 stamens, many in slender drooping catkins, 3 hanging from 1 stalk. Female, 2-10 flowers at tip of same twig.
Fruit: 1 1/4-1 1/2" (3-4 cm) long; elliptical; short-pointed; becoming yellow-brown; covered with scurfy hairs; with thin husk splitting along 4 ridges nearly to base. Hickory nut thick-shelled, with edible seed.

Habitat Moist soil of valleys and lower uplands in hardwood forests.

Range Scattered from South Carolina west to E. Texas, and SE. Oklahoma; also NE. Mexico; to 500' (152 m).

Discussion The common and scientific names of this patchily distributed hickory refer to the nutmeglike shape of the nut. Nutmeg Hickory is easily recognized by the brownish hue produced by numerous tiny scales on various parts. The wood is marketed as Pecan and has similar uses. Like other members of the walnut family, Nutmeg Hickory has an edible, oil-containing seed that attracts wildlife.