Carya cordiformis

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File:BitternutTwig.jpg

It is a large deciduous tree, growing up to {{convert|35|m|ft|sp=us|abbr=on}} tall (exceptionally to {{convert|47|m|ft|disp=or|abbr=on}}), with a trunk up to {{convert|1|m|ftin|abbr=on}} diameter. The leaves are {{convert|15|-|30|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long, pinnate, with 7–11 leaflets, each leaflet lanceolate, {{convert|7|-|13|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long, with the apical leaflets the largest but only slightly so. The flowers are small wind-pollinated catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a very bitter nut, {{convert|2|-|3|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long with a green four-valved cover which splits off at maturity in the fall, and a hard, bony shell. Another identifying characteristic is its bright sulfur-yellow winter bud.

It is closely related to the pecan, sharing similar leaf shape and being classified in the same section of the genus Carya sect. Apocarya, but unlike the pecan, it does not have edible nuts. It is most readily distinguished from the pecan by the smaller number of leaflets, with many leaves having only 7 leaflets (rarely fewer than 9, and often 11–13, in the pecan). Hybrids with the pecan are known, and named Carya × brownii. A hybrid between the shagbark hickory (C. ovata) is also recognized, and is known as Laney's hickory (Carya ×laneyi).{{cite web |url=http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/n/18194-northern-nut-growers-association-report-of-the-pro?start=97 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331200108/http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/n/18194-northern-nut-growers-association-report-of-the-pro?start=97 |archive-date=2012-03-31 |title=Carya cordiformis X Carya ovata}}

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Bitternut hickory grows in moist mountain valleys along streambanks and in swamps. Although it is usually found on wet bottom lands, it grows on dry sites and also grows well on poor soils low in nutrients. The species is not included as a titled species in the Society of American Foresters forest cover types because it does not grow in sufficient numbers.

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Bitternut hickory grows throughout the eastern United States from southwestern New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and southern Quebec; west to southern Ontario, central Michigan, and northern Minnesota; south to eastern Texas; and east to northwestern Florida and Georgia. It is most common, however, from southern New England west to Iowa and from southern Michigan south to Kentucky. It is probably the most abundant and most uniformly distributed of all the hickories. It is most commonly found in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, in high elevations.{{Cite journal |last=Sargent |first=C. S. |date=September 1918 |title=Notes on North American Trees. II. Carya |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/332332 |journal=Botanical Gazette |language=en |volume=66 |issue=3 |pages=229–258 |doi=10.1086/332332 |s2cid=84479715 |issn=0006-8071}}

The taxon was first described in 1787 as Juglans cordiformis by Friedrich Adam Julius von Wangenheim,{{Cite web |title=Carya cordiformis (Wangenh.) K.Koch {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30187393-2 |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=Plants of the World Online |language=en}}von Wangenheim, F.A.J.(1787) [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015061963818&seq=79 Beytrag zur teutschen holzgerechten forstwissenschaft, dieanpflanzung nordamericanischer holzarten mit anwendung auf teutsche forste betreffend: 25] and was transferred to the genus, Carya, in 1869 by Karl Koch.Koch, K. (1869) [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18150229 Dendrologie. Bäume, Sträucher und Halbsträucher, welche in Mittel- und Nord-Europa im Freien kultivirt werden. 1: 597]

Bitternut is used for lumber and pulpwood. Commercial stands are located mostly north of the other pecan hickories. Bitternut hickory is cut and sold in mixture with the "true" hickories. Because bitternut hickory wood is hard and durable, it is used for furniture, paneling, dowels, tool handles and ladders. Like other hickories, the wood is used for smoking meat, and by Native Americans for making bows. Bitternut hickory seeds are eaten by rabbits,{{cite book|last=Little|first=Elbert L.|title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees: Eastern Region|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|year=1980|isbn=0-394-50760-6|page=346}} and both its seeds and bark are eaten by other wildlife.

The tannins which give the nuts of bitternut hickory their bitter flavour are not fat soluble. As a result, it is possible to extract an edible oil from the nuts through pressing and separating the tannin containing pulp from the oil.{{Cite web |last=Bergo |first=Alan |date=2022-10-13 |title=Sam Thayer's Bitternut Hickory Nut Oil |url=https://foragerchef.com/sam-thayers-bitternut-hickory-nut-oil/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Forager {{!}} Chef |language=en-US}} Reportedly, the oil content of bitternut hickories reaches as high as 80%.{{Cite web |date=2024-02-25 |title=Yellowbud hickory, the olive oil of the North? |url=https://www.sidenote.news/yellow-bud-hickory-the-olive-oil-of-the-north/ |access-date=2024-07-18 |website=Sidenote |language=en}} The oil of bitternut hickory is reputed to have a mild and pleasant flavour, similar to that of pecan oil.

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Bitternut hickory is a diploid species with two sets of sixteen chromosomes that readily hybridizes with other diploid hickory species with a few named hican varieties available. The pecan variety 'Major' has bitternut alleles at two simple sequence repeat loci indicating a cryptic cross that may also have involved C. ovata.

File:Bitternutrangemap.jpg|US range map of Carya cordiformis

File:Carya cordiformis bud 2.jpg|Bud in winter

File:Carya cordiformis bud.jpg|Expanding bud in spring

File:Carya cordiformis leaf.jpg|Leaf

File:Carya cordiformis male flowers.jpg|Catkins of male flowers

File:Carya cordiformis (Bitternut Hickory) (33323804856).jpg|Bark

File:Carya cordiformis leaves.jpg|Branch of a bitternut hickory with developing nuts

File:Carya cordiformis (Bitternut Hickory) (37064132791).jpg|Maturing fruit

File:Carya cordiformis AA.jpg|Carya cordiformis, 1940 accession, in fall

{{Reflist}}

• [https://arboretum.harvard.edu/plants/image-search/?keyword=carya+cordiformis&submit=Search Carya cordiformis images at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Plant Image Database]
• Enzenbacher, Tiffany. [https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/plant-collecting-in-the-wisconsin-wilds-part-2/ "Plant Collecting in the Wisconsin Wilds - Part 2."] Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University website, 6 September 2017. Accessed 21 May 2020.
• [https://arboretum.harvard.edu/stories/roads-winter-valley-road-hickories-1900/ "Roads, winter, Valley Road, hickories, 1900."] Library Featured Images, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University website, 5 February 2019. Accessed 21 May 2020.
• {{Commons and category inline}}
• {{Wikispecies-inline}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060910003712/http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/caco15.htm Carya cordiformis images at bioimages.vanderbilt.edu]*

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cordiformis

Category:Trees of Northern America

Category:Hardwood forest plants

Category:Plants described in 1869