A catalog of Native North American Plants : Carya cordiformis

Carya cordiformis

Common name: Bitternut hickory, Pignut, Pignut hickory

A member of the walnut family, It is a large deciduous tree growing up to 30 mts. tall. 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. 

Its bark is light brown with slender branchlets bearing alternate one- pinnately compound leaves bearing seven to nine lanceolate, serrulate leaflets. The flowers are small wind-pollinated catkins, produced in spring. The fruit is a very bitternut, 2–3 cm long with a green four-valve cover which splits off at maturity in the fall, and a hard, bony shell. Another identifying characteristic is its bright sulfur-yellow winter bud.

Bitternut is used for lumber and pulpwood. 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.

Dye Colors: Black, Brown, Orange, Yellow