{"id":19903,"date":"2022-08-18T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=19903"},"modified":"2025-07-29T11:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T15:23:06","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-bitternut-hickory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-bitternut-hickory\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Bitternut Hickory"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Drawing<\/a>The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a>\u00a0exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available.<\/p>\n

This week, we introduce the bitternut hickory or Carya cordiformis<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This cousin of the pecan, has anywhere from five to 11 leaflets, commonly seven to nine, on each alternately held compound leaf.\u00a0Leaflets are much longer than they are wide and are often curved backwards.<\/p>\n

A sulphur-colored, elongated bud is a standout identifying characteristic. Bitternut hickory has tight light to silvery gray bark with interlacing ridges throughout the life of the tree.<\/p>\n

The fruit is a light colored, small, round nut, with a thick hull and a slight wing where the sutures meet. It is\u00a0quite bitter and not preferred by animals or humans.<\/p>\n

The bitternut hickory is one of the fastest growing hickory species in the state behind the pecan, and produces some fall beauty with yellow and gold foliage. Bitternut hickory, one of the most abundant and wide spread hickory species, can be found on dry gravelly uplands as well as rich moist bottomland from the Atlantic coast to the Great Plains, north through Minnesota and the St. Lawrence River valley, except the gulf coastal plains and the lower Mississippi flood plain regions.<\/p>\n