bitternut hickory

Photo: No machine-readable author provided. MPF assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0 · source

Survives zone 4 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Bitternut hickory lives up to its name — the thin-shelled nuts are notably bitter and astringent, so unpalatable that even squirrels often leave them uneaten. Historically the oil pressed from the nuts was burned in lamps rather than eaten, and the wood is prized for smoking ham and bacon, giving this species a real use but a poor reputation at the table compared with shagbark or shellbark hickory.

Hardiness

Zone 4–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Nut

Ripens

Sept–Oct

Mature size

Large tree 20–30 m — not containerable

Light

Full sun

Soil pH

6.0–7.5 (near-neutral; lime-tolerant)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eastern North America — from southern Quebec and Maine west to Minnesota and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas, occurring in a wider range of moisture conditions than most hickories, from low wet woods and stream banks to dry upland sites.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

6–10 yrs

Growth speed

Slow-growing, typical of the genus, eventually reaching around 25 m tall with a 15 m spread.

Spacing

1500 cm (591 in) apart — about 225 m² (2422 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Pinnately compound, 15–30 cm long, with 7–9 (occasionally 5) lance-shaped to oval leaflets with finely toothed margins; leaflets are roughly uniform in size along the leaf, and the winter buds are a distinctive sulfur-yellow.

Root system

Develops a strong, deep taproot early in life, like other Carya, which anchors the tree well but makes transplanting older seedlings difficult.

Fruit description

A small, thin-shelled nut about 3 cm long inside a thin, four-winged husk that splits only partway. The kernel is bitter and astringent rather than sweet, making it the least palatable of the widespread hickories for direct eating.

Propagation

Propagated from seed, which requires cold stratification — moist stratification at roughly 33–40°F (0–4°C) for one to five months breaks embryo dormancy. Like all hickories it forms a strong taproot almost immediately, so seedlings are best sown directly in a permanent position or raised in deep pots and transplanted in their first summer before the taproot becomes unmanageable. Named selections are grafted onto seedling rootstock, though bitternut is grafted far less often commercially than pecan.

Pollination

DICHOGAMOUS — needs Type I + Type II cultivars (pecan); hickories benefit from a 2nd tree

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.