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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 51: PIGNUT 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.

PIGNUT HICKORY

Carya glabra, (Mill.) Spach.

Form.—Height 50-80 feet, diameter, 2-3½ feet; trunk usually straight, clean and long; crown rounded or narrowly oblong.

Leaves.—Alternate, compound, 8-12 inches long; leaflets usually 5-7, oblong to obovate-lanceolate, long taper-pointed, sharply serrate, dark yellow-green and glabrous above, paler beneath, fragrant when crushed.

Flowers.—Similar to those of other hickories.

Fruit.—Variable in shape, pear-shaped to ovoid, 1-2 inches long; husk thin, splitting half way or more to the base; nut smooth or obscurely angled, thick-walled and enclosing a sweet or slightly bitter kernel.

Bark.—Dark gray, roughened by many flat-topped ridges, the outside layers of which sometimes become detached at one end, giving the trunk a somewhat shaggy appearance.

Wood.—As in other species of hickory before described.

Range.—Maine, Ontario and Minnesota to Florida and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common in every county, less frequently found at high elevations.

Habitat.—Thrives on almost any rich, well-drained soil of ridges and hillsides.

Notes.—The abundance of this species in nearly every section of the State makes it one of the most useful hickories, especially for the farmer. Its growth in farm woodlands, as in other places, should be encouraged.