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Parks & Recreation

Pignut Hickory

Common Name:   Pignut Hickory

Scientific Name: Carya glabra

Location: McNeilly Park
Size: 22” diameter at breast height

Pignut Hickory, "Carya glabra" location on map

Location: Main Park-Greenhurst area
Size: 19” diameter at breast height

Pignut Hickory, "Carya glabra" Location on map

Native to: Eastern and Southeastern U.S., commonly in the Appalachians.

This tree typically grows to: 60 feet tall and 35-40 feet wide at the crown.

This tree prefers these conditions: Dry hillsides and ridges, sun to part shade.

Special about this tree:  

  • A lovely forest canopy tree, with rich golden-yellow fall color.
  • Produces strong wood as a timber crop.
  • Nuts are ¾ to 1 ¼ inches in diameter, and early settlers found these would feed the pigs; hence the common name.
  • Not often cultivated as the taproot can make tree difficult to transplant.
  • Leaves are pinnately compound, arranged in alternate pattern on the stem.
  • Each leaf typically with five leaflets, with the terminal leaflet the largest.
  • Bark ages into rough diamond pattern, as opposed to the vertical, curling and peeling sheets of the Shagbark Hickory.