**Etymology and Taxonomy:**
– The name “hickory” originates from a Native American word in an Algonquian language, likely a shortened form of ‘pockerchicory’.
– The genus name Carya is derived from Ancient Greek, meaning nut.
– Carya belongs to the walnut family, Juglandaceae.
– Beaked hickory is classified under its own genus, Annamocarya.
– Carya sect. Sinocarya includes Chinese hickory and other Asian species, while Carya sect. Carya includes typical North American hickories.
**Species Diversity:**
– Asian hickories include Carya cathayensis, Carya dabieshanensis, Carya hunanensis, Carya kweichowensis, and Carya poilanei.
– North American hickories encompass species like Carya texana, Carya floridana, Carya glabra, Carya laciniosa, and Carya myristiciformis.
– Some species are known to hybridize, contributing to the diversity within the Carya genus.
**Evolutionary History:**
– Carya’s oldest fossils date back to Cretaceous pollen grains.
– Modern Carya species emerged in Oligocene strata.
– Fossil evidence indicates Carya’s diversification during the Miocene period.
– The genus likely originated in North America and later spread to Europe and Asia.
– Carya’s range has contracted over time, reflecting its evolutionary journey.
**Uses of Hickory:**
– Hickory wood is hard, stiff, dense, and shock-resistant, making it suitable for various applications.
– It is utilized for tool handles, bows, wheel spokes, carts, drumsticks, golf club shafts, paddles, and wood flooring.
– Hickory wood is also used for smoking meats and as fuel for wood-burning stoves.
– Extracts from hickory bark are used to produce edible syrup and dyes.
– Hickory nuts are consumed as food, with some species suitable for human consumption and others used as animal feed.
**Gallery and Additional Resources:**
– The gallery includes images of North American Carya nuts, ripe hickory nuts, and autumn foliage.
– Related topics such as Hican and Walnut are worth exploring in conjunction with hickory.
– References to Fossilworks, Plants of the World Online, Flora of North America, Flora of China, and the USDA Plants Database provide further information on hickory.
– External links to Wikimedia Commons, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Plant Image Database, and the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article on Hickory offer additional resources for hickory enthusiasts.
Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus Carya, which includes around 18 species. Five or six species are native to China, Indochina, and India (Assam), as many as twelve are native to the United States, four are found in Mexico, and two to four are native to Canada. A number of hickory species are used for their edible nuts, lumber or other wood and woodcraft products .
| Hickory Temporal range: Late Cretaceous - present
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Hickory at Morton Arboretum Accession 29-U-10 | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fagales |
| Family: | Juglandaceae |
| Subfamily: | Juglandoideae |
| Tribe: | Juglandeae |
| Subtribe: | Caryinae |
| Genus: | Carya Nutt. |
| Type species | |
| Carya tomentosa (Poir.) Nutt.
| |
Hickories are temperate forest trees with pinnately compound leaves and large nuts. Hickory flowers are small, yellow-green catkins produced in spring. They are wind-pollinated and self-incompatible. The fruit is a globose or oval nut, 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) long and 1.5–3 cm (0.6–1.2 in) diameter, enclosed in a four-valved husk, which splits open at maturity. The nut shell is thick and bony in most species, and thin in a few, notably the pecan (C. illinoinensis); it is divided into two halves, which split apart when the seed germinates.