Pignut Hickory

LEAVES: Alternate, compound, 8″-12″ long usually divided into 5 toothed, lance- shaped leaflets. The leaf is smooth on both surfaces, dark yellowish green above and paler beneath.

TWIGS: Slender and usually smooth, reddish brown with numerous pale lenticels. Buds reddish brown to gray, blunt pointed, with 6 outer scales which fall off during winter exposing the grayish downy inner scales. End buds ¼” to ½” long, smallest of our  native hickories..

FRUIT: Somewhat pear shaped tapering toward the stem, 1″-2″ long with a thin husk only partly splitting when ripe. Nuts brownish white, thick-shelled, kernels often taste bitter.

BARK: Gray to dark gray, usually tight, becoming shallowly fissured on older trees.

GENERAL: Pignut hickory reaches 50′-60′ high growing on dry ridgetops and slopes throughout the southern half of the state. As with other hickories, the wood is heavy, hard, and strong with very high shock resistance, and is principally used for tool handles. Although the nuts are too bitter for human use, they are an important food for squirrels and chipmunks.