Scientific name: Carya cordiformis
Family: Juglandaceae (Walnut family)
This large native tree is distributed throughout the state and is named for its nuts, which are too bitter for human and wildlife consumption. Bitternut hickory prefers rich, moist sites such as bottomlands but is often found in drier conditions and adapts to acidic, neutral, or alkaline soils. It can tolerate shade in youth but needs full sun for optimal growth at maturity. Bitternut hickory is virtually problem and pest-free. Smoke from hickory wood can be used to give food a popular flavor. The strong and heavy nature of hickory is unlike any other commercial wood and makes it suitable for tool handles.
Identification
LEAF: Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, up to 1 foot long, and usually display seven narrow, lance-shaped leaflets (ranging from seven to 11), with fine serrations on their margins. Spring and summer leaf color is medium green to dark green, while fall color is often golden.
TWIGS AND BUDS: Twigs are slender, smooth, glossy, orange-brown to grayish with numerous pale lenticels. Terminal buds are a distinctive sulfur-yellow color, ½ inch long, composed of non-overlapping scales.
FRUIT OR SEED: Fruit is composed of a bitter innermost kernel protected by a hard shell with four ribs, surrounded by a thin, winged outer yellow husk that splits into four sections almost to the middle when ripe.
BARK: Light gray bark remains rather smooth for many years, eventually developing shallow furrows and low, narrow interlacing ridges. Bark does not peel like shagbark or shellbark hickories.
SHAPE: Slender
MATURE HEIGHT: 60-90 feet.
Photo credits: Donald Cameron, Arieh Tal (https://botphoto.info), Alexey Zinovjev
Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum 