Common Name: Bitternut Hickory Scientific Name: Carya cordiformis *Also known as Swamp Hickory
Spring Fall Winter Summer
Thin Smooth and silvery gray Tight against trunk Hard to the touch
Alternate Compound 7 to 10 inches long 7 to 11 leaflets Dark green on top Pale green on bottom
MALES ARE YELLOW-GREEN DROOPING CATKINS WITH 3 HANGING FROM ONE STALK EACH 3 TO 4 INCHES LONG FEMALES ARE SHORT, 4- ANGLED, ON A TERMINAL SPIKE, APPEARING IN SPRING.
Whatever this little dude is Ants Caterpillar
Bitternut hickory is monoecious ; male and female flowers are produced on the same tree. The male flowers are in catkins about 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) Female flowers are about 13 mm (0.5 in) Usually the male flowers emerge before the female flowers Female Male
Because bitternut hickory wood is hard and durable it is used for : Furniture Paneling Dowels Handles Ladders Meat smoking Bars Crates Pallets Flooring Heating Early settlers used oil extracted from the nuts for oil lamps. They also believed the oil was valuable as a cure for rheumatism The foliage of bitternut, hickory has a high calcium content and is near the top of the list of soil-improving species Bitternut hickory is cut and sold in mixture with the true hickories
It has virtually no disease or pest problems and grows rapidly. The lifespan of a bitternut hickory is moderate living to about 200 years. Native Americans use the oil of a bitternut hickory to mix with food for flavoring and also used the mashed nuts in bread and other foods. The fruit is so bitter that even squirrels tend to stay away from them. It is the shortest lived of all hickory trees.
Seed Small, Buried Food, Fuel, Leaves, Oxygen Dying, pollution, crumbling Reproducing, Tree Seeds
The tree looked very healthy throughout the project. -Billy Van Lenten I think it was a cool, fun experience to learn about our tree. – Haley Duffie I enjoyed being able to watch our tree grow and mature. – Kailyn Wray
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