Carolina Nature

Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra)

Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Juglandales>Juglandaceae>Carya glabra (P. Mill.) Sweet var. glabra

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra)

Pignut Hickory is common medium-large tree of upland forests. The leaves usually are glabrous and usually have 5 leaflets, rarely 7.

Orange Co., NC 4/9/07.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) flowers

Male flowers are in short, drooping catkins, which appear in mid-April in the Piedmont of North Carolina to early May in the Mountains.

Orange Co., NC 4/9/07.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) flowers

Male flowers.

Carroll Co., VA 5/10/09.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra)

The leaves are spicily fragrant, like those of the other tetraploid hickories of section Carya (alba, ovalis, and pallida).

Orange Co., NC 7/4/03.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) bark

Bark of a medium-sized tree.

The usual variety in the NC Piedmont is var. glabra. There's also var. hirsuta (with densely pubescent rachis) in the Mountains and var. megacarpa (with larger fruits and longer terminal leaflets) in the Coastal Plain, though the ranges of these two are not well known.

Orange Co., NC 7/4/03.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) bark

Bark of a mature tree. The bark on large trees has close, intersecting ridges.

Carroll Co., VA 10/16/06.

Pignut Hickory (Carya glabra) bark

Carroll Co., VA 10/26/08.

More information:
NC State Fact Sheet
Trees of Alabama and the Southeast
USDA Forest Service Silvics Manual
Virginia Tech Dendrology

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