JUGLANDACEAE - - Walnut Family

Carya cordiformis (Wangenheim) K. Koch — Bitternut Hickory

Bitternut Hickory (Carya cordiformis) - This is a large hickory in the pecan group with alternate, compound leaves with 7 to 11 leaflets; terminal buds (best ID feature) are valvate and usually a sulphur-yellow color; fruit is slightly oblong to nearly round, husk very thin, green to yellowish, turning brown with age, 4-winged above the middle, with a very bitter seed; bark slate-gray and smooth, even on large trunks, generally the tightest fitting bark of any hickory. It usually grows along streambanks, in swamps and wet bottom lands, but will grow on dry sites and poor soils.

Habitat:

Forests and woodlands, especially in rich, moist alluvial or slope forests.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The native range of Carya cordiformis (Bitternut Hickory)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Carya cordiformis (Bitternut Hickory)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.