I occasionally have seen this beautiful species, probably the third most common hickory in the North after the Shagbark and Bitternut Hickories. It is native from southern New England into central Florida to a little in east Texas up to much of Missouri and most all of Illinois to central Michigan. Its compound leaves get 8 to 12 inches long and usually have 5 leaflets, but can have 7 and leaflets are broad. The husk-nut fruit is about 1.3 inches long and is pear-shaped, and seed can be bitter or sweet. The gray bark on mature trees is of scaly ridges that form a rough diamond-shaped pattern. It grows in dry and moist, well-drained soils. It grows slowly as other hickories of about 6 -8 inches /year. It forms a deep taproot, but small trees can be moved B&B in early spring. It lives about 200 to 300 years. Hickories are sort of messy dropping twigs and nuts, but they are so magnificent, and they are host plants for a huge array of beneficial insects, as for caterpillars of many butterfly and moth species.

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This is a fairly common Hickory tree here in my area. We don't get to see much autumn color this far south but some years these trees do show some pretty colors.

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