# hickory tree



## huntndeer (Mar 15, 2008)

never been good at identifying trees what is some ways to indentfy a hichory tree in the woods


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## weathermantrey (Mar 15, 2008)

Hickory tree's will have a compound leaf, and rather large twigs/buds compared to other tree's.


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## Vernon Holt (Mar 15, 2008)

The Hickories (there are several different species) have what is referred to as compound leaves.  This simply means instead of having single leaves as does an Oak tree, it has a prominent stem with several leaflets branching out from the main stem.

The leaflets occur as opposites.  They never appear staggered on the stem, but are always opposite one another.  The compound leaf then is always topped off with a single leaf at the tip of the stem.  

This single leaf means then that the leaf of the hickories will always have an odd number of leaflets in the compound leaf.  The number of leaflets will run from five, seven, or nine, depending upon the species of Hickory.

Identifying a tree as a Hickory is relatively easy.  ID'ing the species of Hickory is a little more difficult.  A study of the number of leaflets, bark characteristics, a study of the nut, and examining the leaf buds may be required.

Some of the different species of Hickories are: Mockernut, Pignut, Red, Bitternut, Shagbark, and the ordinary Pecan.

Other common trees that have compound leaves are:  Black Walnut, Butternut, the Ashes, the Sumacs, and Box elder.

One characteristic which can be helpful in ID'ing Hickory is the trait of their being among the last trees to bud and show leaves in the spring.  Most trees will show green before the Hickory buds will begin to swell.  Farmers used to say, "when hickory buds begin to burst, it is safe to plant anything that you want to plant without worry of frost".

The Hickory is a valuable tree in the woodlot.  It is a great timber tree, great wildlife tree, Colors to beautiful golden color in fall, and most bear edible and tasty nuts.


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## danmc (Mar 23, 2008)

As others have said, the compound leaves on hickories are a big clue when the leaves are out.  Some ways to distinguish it from the black walnut, butternut, ashes, sumacs, and box elder that have been mentioned are:

Ashes and box elder (which is a type of maple) have opposite leaves while hickories (and most other trees) have alternate leaves.  By this I mean that if you look on a twig the leaves on a hickory will alternate, one on one side then go down the twig a bit and there will be one on the other side.  Compare that to an ash or a maple where the leaves come in pairs on opposite sides of the twigs.  You can tell this even in winter by looking at the leaf scars.  Note that I'm talking about the leaves, not the leaflets (see Vernon's post which is right on).  Around here maples, ash, buckeye, dogwood,princess tree, and catalpa trees have opposite leaves.  There are a few others that I don't know off the top of my head but I think the others are all smaller trees.

Sumac and hickory just don't look much alike so you should be good there.  A sumac will grow a cluster of berries at the ends and they'll dry out and stay there all winter.  They're hard to miss.

In the summer, hickories have hickory nuts and walnut trees have walnuts and those look pretty different.  A black walnut in the winter has a pretty distinctive leaf scar (the mark left where the leaf was).  It looks like a smiling monkey face.  Really, no kidding.  Also if you slice a black walnut twig lengthwise, you'll see it is chambered while a hickory is not.  By "chambered" I mean there are lots of little hollow areas with thin layers of material separating them.  Bamboo is chambered too but the chambers are much much further apart than a black walnut.  A butternut (which is also a type of walnut) also has chambered pith.

The other thing you can look for on hickories is the bark pattern looks a little diamond shaped but at least to my eye, you have to look a bit before you see it.  Others may find it more obvious than I do.

I have troubles identifying many trees too but I'm working on it.  If it makes you feel better, Georgia has somewhere around 200 native tree species which is something like 1/3 of the trees native to the US.  I just picked up a used copy of "Trees of Georgia and Adjacent States" by Brown and Kirkman.  I haven't used it much yet but it looks like it is going to be fairly useful.  It has both summer and winter keys.  Thats where I got the "200 species" and "1/3" numbers.

-Dan


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## BOWHUNTER! (Mar 24, 2008)

The bark is criss crossed and real smooth.


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## dawg2 (Mar 24, 2008)

BOWHUNTER! said:


> The bark is criss crossed and real smooth.



Yep.  Easiest way to ID in the winter.


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## Twenty five ought six (Mar 24, 2008)

Without getting all technical, one of the easiest ways to identify them in the woods is too look for the nuts or shells on the ground.  If you see the shells, it's usually not too hard to figure out which of the nearby trees is a hickory.

On characteristic that I look for, and I'm not sure of the technical term (I'm sure that there must be one) is that the limbs tend to be much more twisted than on other trees.


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## Bitteroot (Mar 28, 2008)

You'll know which one it is if you hang a tree stand in it during the fall.  If the nuts don't knock you out, you may just slide to the bottom.


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## ShakyCharb (Mar 31, 2008)

Here is a link I found. http://static.naturehills.com/treeshickorytree/

Then click on each tree you see below for more info and then at the bottom of the summary click on "View Details" and move mouse over the small pictures on the left for larger views. 

Bitternut Hickory Mockernut Hickery Pignut Hickory Shagbark Hickory Shellbark Hickory


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## Killdee (Mar 31, 2008)

Yall mean hickernut tree. You know somebody loves you if they make you a hickernut cake. Great place to squrrel hunt too.


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## GA DAWG (Apr 3, 2008)

Bitteroot said:


> You'll know which one it is if you hang a tree stand in it during the fall.  If the nuts don't knock you out, you may just slide to the bottom.


 You aint wrong..They have very hard bark!!


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## Fletch_W (May 29, 2010)

When will you start to see nuts on the trees in this area?


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## danmc (May 29, 2010)

Fletch_W said:


> When will you start to see nuts on the trees in this area?



In my area (north metro atlanta), the hickory trees have nuts on them right now.  They're not even close to mature nuts yet but they're there and big enough to be pretty clearly seen.

You'll know when they're mature because the squirrels will be tearing them up and leaving shells all over the ground underneath.

-Dan

-Dan


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## bestbucks (May 29, 2010)

The most common ones found in the middle Ga. area are Mockernut,Shagbark,Pignut,Bitternut, and Water Hickory, which grows in swamps and looks a lot like a Pecan tree. Bowhunter and Dawg2 are right, in that the best way is with the bark for identification. And if you don't look at these trees regularly, it is easy to forget. Especially when you get old and senile like myself.


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## stuart smith (Jun 4, 2010)

Leaves are rough on the underside and the green leaf has a pungent smell.


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## shakey gizzard (Jun 24, 2010)

They are the ones that are aborting their nuts right now!Need rain!


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## doublebarrel (Jun 25, 2010)

Scaley Bark or Shag Bark hickory has very rough bark! Kind of looks like it is shedding all the time.


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## westcobbdog (Jun 25, 2010)

BOWHUNTER! said:


> The bark is criss crossed and real smooth.



true except for shagbark's, which look real raggedy, like the bark is peeling off.


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## Dixiesimpleman32 (Jul 2, 2010)

leafs and nuts.


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