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Water Hickory (Bitter Pecan)

Carya aquatica
Family: 
Juglandaceae (walnuts)
Description: 

Medium to large tree with a long, clear trunk, buttressed base and narrow, irregular crown.

Leaves alternate, feather-compound, 9-15 inches long, with 7-15 leaflets; leaflets lance- to egg-shaped, curved, 2-5 inches long, with long-pointed tip; margins finely to inconspicuously toothed. Upper surface dark, smooth; lower surface hairy, especially along veins and stalk. Yellow in fall.

Bark gray-brown, often red-tinged, splitting into long, loose, platelike shaggy scales, brittle.

Twigs slender, red-brown or gray, hairy, end bud slightly flattened, covered with tiny yellow scales.

Flowers April-May; male and female flowers separate on same tree; male catkins hairy, solitary or in threes; female flowers 2-6 per spike.

Fruits September-October, pear- to egg-shaped nuts, often clustered, 1-1½ inches long, 1 inch wide, noticeably flattened compared to other hickory nuts, with a thin, 4-winged husk having bright yellow scales, splitting at the base. Nuts flat, reddish, bitter.

Size: 
Height: to 100 feet.
Habitat and conservation: 
Occurs in swamps and wet bottomland forests—on ground that is often under water during part of the year. Associated with bald cypress, water tupelo, swamp cottonwood, overcup oak, water locust and Drummond's red maple. In Missouri, it is limited to the Bootheel. This is a slow-growing tree that generally does not begin producing fruits until after age 20. It readily hybridizes with pecan where the two species occur together on the same site.
Distribution in Missouri: 
Uncommon in our state; found only in the swamps of the southeastern Bootheel. Total range is from east Texas to Florida, to Virginia, to southern Indiana and Illinois and southeastern Missouri.
Human connections: 
The wood is hard to work, brittle and considered inferior to that of other hickories. It is sometimes used for fuel, posts and props. The nuts are bitter and inedible. The swamp habitat these trees help produce is crucial for natural flood control.
Ecosystem connections: 
The nuts are swallowed by wood ducks and mallards and are eaten by squirrels and other small mammals. With their shade and effects on soils and water movement, water hickory and other swamp trees help create lowland habitat critical for a multitude of species.

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  • Black Hickory

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    Many Missouri trees are quite useful, and shagbark hickory is a great example. Its wood makes excellent, slow-burning charcoal, its nuts are edible and its wood is used for many implements. Wildlife from moths to squirrels to bats appreciate shagbarks, too!

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    One of Missouri’s favorite nut trees is the pecan, which is a type of hickory—and hickories are in the walnut family! Originally pecan had a fairly limited, southern distribution, but today it is found in and out of cultivation nearly statewide, owing to the popularity of the nuts.

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    This is the largest of the true hickories and has the best-tasting hickory nuts in Missouri. Compared to shagbark hickory, it has larger leaves and more leaflets, plus large nuts and orange twigs.

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    A rugged hickory of dry upland forests in the eastern Ozarks, the pignut has pear-shaped fruits with thin husks. Settlers were unimpressed with the nuts’ flavor and fed them to their hogs!

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