Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
Introductory
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo. 1992. Carya cordiformis. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station,
Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/carcor/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
CARCOR
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
CACO15
COMMON NAMES :
bitternut hickory
bitternut
swamp hickory
pignut hickory
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for bitternut hickory is Carya
cordiformis (Wangenh.) K. Koch [3,18]. There are no recognized
subspecies, varieties, or forms.
Bitternut hickory naturally hybridizes with the following [26]:
C. illinoensis (C. X brownii Sarg.)
C. glabra (C. X demareei Palmer)
C. ovata (C. X laneyi Sarg.)
LIFE FORM :
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Bitternut hickory's range extends from southwestern New Hampshire,
Vermont, Maine, and southern Quebec; west to southern Ontario, central
Michigan, and northern Minnesota;, and south to eastern Texas and
northern Florida. It is most common from southern New England west to
Iowa and from southern Michigan south to Kentucky [3,13,22,26].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES16 Oak - gum - cypress
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR CT DE FL GA IN IA KS LA
ME MD MA MI MN MS MO NE NH NJ
NY OH OK PA RI SC TX VT VA WV
WI ON PQ
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K089 Black Belt
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K097 Southern spruce - fir forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory forest
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
K114 Pocosin
SAF COVER TYPES :
21 Eastern white pine
22 White pine - hemlock
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
39 Black ash - American elm - red maple
40 Post oak - blackjack oak
42 Bur oak
43 Bear oak
44 Chestnut oak
45 Pitch pine
46 Eastern redcedar
51 White pine - chestnut oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow-poplar
58 Yellow-poplar - eastern hemlock
59 Yellow-poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech sugar maple
64 Sassafras - persimmon
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
87 Sweetgum - yellow poplar
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybrak oak
103 Water tupelo - swamp tupelo
108 Red maple
110 Black oak
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
The hardwood of bitternut hickory is used for making tools, furniture,
paneling, dowels, and ladders. Bitternut hickory is also desirable for
charcoal and fuelwood [16,26].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Bitternut hickory fruit is generally considered unpalatable to wildlife
[28]. Rabbits, beavers, and small rodents will occasionally feed on the
bark of bitternut hickory [26].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
The foliage of bitternut hickory has a high calcium content [26].
COVER VALUE :
Bitternut hickory provides nesting sites for a variety of cavity-nesting
birds in the Missouri oak-hickory forest [1].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
The deep lateral roots of bitternut hickory make it a valuable species
for watershed protection. Bitternut hickory has been grown successfully
on zinc mine waste sites in southwestern Wisconsin [2].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Smoke from the wood of bitternut hickory is used to give hams and bacon
a "hickory smoked" flavor [16,23].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Establishing hickory trees from seedlings is difficult because of seed
predators. Infrequent bumper crops usually produce some seedlings, but
seedling survival is poor under a dense canopy. Wherever advance
reproduction is adequate, clearcutting results in fast-growing sapling
stands. If there is no advance hickory reproduction, clearcutting
eliminates hickories except for stump sprouts. Light thinnings or
shelterwood cuts can be used to create advance hickory regeneration
[15,21,26].
In three studies that were carried out in adjacent fields in southern
Ontario, atttempts to establish bitternut hickory in open-field
plantations were unsuccessful. Sowing of nuts was the least successful
method of afforestation because either germination or height increments
were too low [30].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Bitternut hickory is a medium-to-large native, deciduous tree, typically
reaching a height of 60 to 80 feet (18-24 m) [11,13]. Under a forest
canopy, it develops a long branch-free trunk with little taper, and a
short rounded crown of slender ascending branches that broaden the crown
toward the top. The branchlets are sparse and tend to droop slightly
from the main ascending branches. The leaves are long and slender
[9,16].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Seed production and dissemination: Bitternut hickory does not produce
abundant seed until the tree is approximately 30 years old [16].
Optimum seed production extends from 50 to 125 years; trees that are
more than 175 years old seldom produce seed crops. Good seed crops
appear at 3- to 5-year intervals, with light seed crops borne in the
intervening years. Bitternut hickory seed is estimated to be from 75 to
85 percent viable. Seed dissemination is almost entirely by gravity
[26].
Seedling development: Bitternut hickory is probably more tolerant of a
moist seedbed than other hickories and is the least susceptible to frost
damage. Germination is hypogeal. Bitternut hickory seedlings grown in
the open or light shade in the Ohio Valley were 13.3 inches (34 cm) at 4
years; sprouts of 1-year-old seedlings grown on red clay averaged 11
inches (28 cm) [26].
Vegetative reproduction: Bitternut hickory is the most prolific rootand
stump-sprouter of the northern species of hickories, with sprouts
arising from stumps, root crown, and roots. Most sprouts from sapling
and pole-size trees are root crown sprouts, while those from
sawtimber-size trees are mostly root sprouts. Stump sprouts are less
numerous than either root crown sprouts or root suckers [26].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
In the northern parts of its range, bitternut hickory occurs on a
variety of sites [5,14]. It is found on rich, loamy or gravelly soil,
low wet woods, and along borders of streams, but is also found on dry
uplands [31]. In the south, bitternut is more restricted to moist sites
than in the north. It reaches it largest size on the rich bottomlands
of the lower Ohio River Basin [5]. In the southwestern parts of its
range, bitternut hickory is common on poor, dry, gravelly upland soils.
Bitternut hickory is absent from the mountain forests of northern New
England and New York, and it is not found at the higher elevations in
the Appalachians [25].
Principle tree assoicates are listed under Distribution and Occurrence.
Other commom tree associates include eastern hophornbean (Ostrya
virginiana), butternut (Juglans cinerea), and hackberry (Celtis
occidentalis). Common understory associates include largeflower
bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora), virginia creeper (Parthenocissus
quinquefolia), wood-nettle (Laportea canadensis), and violets (Viola
spp.) [20,26].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Bitternut hickory are generally classified as intolerant of shade but
bitternut hickory seedlings appear to be more tolerant on overflow
bottomlands than most of its associates [26]. Top dieback and
resprouting may occur frequently with each successive shoot attaining a
larger size and developing a stronger root system than its predecessor.
By this process, hickory reproduction gradually accumulates and develops
under moderate canopies, especially on sites dry enough to restrict
reproduction of more tolerant, but more fire- or drought-sensitive
species [7,8,26].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Bitternut hickory flowers in April or May. The fruit ripens in
September and October and is dispersed from September through December
[3,6].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Bitternut hickory saplings are easily damaged by fire; older trees are
also susceptible to fire damage because of the low insulating capacity
of the bark [26].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site surviving root crown or caudex
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1&2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Most fires top-kill the aboveground portions of the plant [26].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Bitternut hickory can sprout from the stump, root crown, or roots
following fire [26].
The Research Paper by Bowles and others 2007 provides information on postfire
response of several plant species, including bitternut hickory, that was not
available when this species review was originally written.
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Periodic burning effectively controlled bitternut hickory on the Kansas
prairie [4].
The absence of fire increased the expansion of the Oak-Hickory
association in eastern Nebraska [25].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Carya cordiformis
REFERENCES :
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diameter and cavity abundance in a Missouri oak-hickory forest. Northern
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Schopmeyer, C. S., technical coordinator. Seeds of woody plants in the
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14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
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FEIS Home Page
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