Pignut hickory

Description

Carya glabra, the pignut hickory, is a common, but not abundant species of hickory in the oak-hickory forest association in the Eastern United States and Canada. Other common names are pignut, sweet pignut, coast pignut hickory, smoothbark hickory, swamp hickory, and broom hickory. The pear-shaped nut ripens in September and October, has a sweet maple like smell, and is an important part of the diet of many wild animals. The wood is used for a variety of products, including fuel for home heating. Its leaves turn yellow in the Fall. The range of pignut hickory covers nearly all of the eastern United States (11). The species grows in central Florida and northward through North Carolina to southern Massachusetts. It also grows north of the Gulf Coast through Alabama, Mississippi north to Missouri and extreme southeastern Iowa, and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The best development of this species is in the lower Ohio River Basin. It prevails over other species of hickory in the Appalachian forests. Pignut makes up much of the hickory harvested in Kentucky, West Virginia, the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee, and the hill country of the Ohio Valley. Pignut hickory is also found in Canada in southern Ontario. It does however have a limited range and is restricted to the Niagara Peninsula, southern Halton Region, the Hamilton area along western Lake Ontario, and southward along the northern shore of Lake Erie and pockets of extreme southwestern Ontario.