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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 49: BIG SHELL-BARK HICKORY
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

BIG SHELL-BARK HICKORY

Carya laciniosa, (Michx. f.) Loud.

Form.—Height 60-100 feet, diameter 1-2 feet. Similar to that of the smaller shell-bark.

Leaves.—Alternate, compound; leaflets usually 7, sharp-pointed, serrate, dark green and smooth above, paler and covered with soft hairs beneath.

Flowers.—Very similar to those of the smaller shell-bark, previously described.

Fruit.—Ovoid, with four shallow creases above the middle, 1½-2½ inches in diameter, thick, smooth husk, splitting to the base; nut large, thick-shelled and angled; kernel sweet and edible.

Bark.—About the same as that of the smaller shell-bark hickory.

Wood.—The wood of this species can hardly be distinguished from that of the shell-bark hickory.

Range.—Central New York and Southern Michigan to North Carolina and Arkansas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Not common, found principally near the Ohio River from some distance north of Parkersburg to Kenova. Reported from Harrison, Upshur and Monongalia counties, where possibly the trees have sprung from artificially planted seeds.

Habitat.—Rich, damp bottom lands and coves near rivers.

Notes.—Too rare to be an important tree in West Virginia. The wood is equal to the best of other species of hickory, but the nuts are rendered less valuable on account of the thickness of their shells.