Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
Introductory
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Coladonato, Milo. 1992. Carya tomentosa. 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/cartom/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
CARTOM
SYNONYMS :
Carya alba (Mill.) K. Koch
SCS PLANT CODE :
CATO6
COMMON NAMES :
mockernut hickory
mockernut
white hickory
whiteheart hickory
hognut
bullnut
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for mockernut hickory is Carya
tomentosa Nutt. [19]. Recognized morphological varieties based on
differences in the leaves and fruit include [32]:
Var. subcoriacea (Sarg.) Palm. & Steyermark, commonly known as Gulf
mockernut hickory, it is distiguished from the typical variety by having
thicker, more pubescent leaves, and a fruit more prominently angled with
thicker and larger nuts.
Var. ficoides Sarg., commonly known as fig mockernut hickory, is
distinguished from the typical variety by having a stipelike base to the
fruit.
Var. ovoidea Sarg., commmonly known as ovoid mockernut hickory, is
distinguished from the typical variety by having a long-acuminate ovoid
fruit.
Mockernut hickory hybrid products are [32]:
C. tomentosa x C. illinoensis = C. X schneckii Sarg.
C. tomentosa x C. ovata = C. X collina Laughlin
LIFE FORM :
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
Mockernut hickory grows from Massachusetts and New York west to southern
Ontario, southern Michigan, northern Illinois, southeastern Iowa,
Missouri, and eastern Kansas; south to eastern Texas; and east to
northern Florida. Mockernut hickory is most abundant southward through
Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. It is also abundant in the lower
Mississippi Valley and grows largest in the lower Ohio River Basin
[4,28].
ECOSYSTEMS :
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 IL IN IA KS
KY LA MD MA MI MS MO NJ NY NC
OH OK PA RI SC TN TX VA WV
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K089 Black Belt
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K097 Southeastern spruce - fir forest
K100 Oak - hickory
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K113 Southern floodplain forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
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
60 Beech - sugar maple
61 River birch - sycamore
64 Sassafras - persimmon
65 Pin oak - sweet gum
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
72 Southern scrub oak
75 Shortleaf pine
76 Shortleaf pine - oak
78 Virginia pine - oak
79 Virginia pine
80 Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
81 Loblolly pine
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood
83 Longleaf pine - slash pine
87 Sweetgum - yellow-poplar
91 Swamp chestnut oak - cherrybark oak
92 Sweetgum - willow oak
93 Sugarberry - American elm - green ash
110 Black oak
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
Nearly 80 percent of harvested mockernut hickory is used to manufacture
tool handles, for which its hardness, toughness, stiffness, and strength
make it especially suitable. Other uses include agricultural
implements, dowels, gymnasium equipment, poles, and furniture.
Mockernut hickory is also used for lumber, pulpwood, charcoal, and
fuelwood [25,29].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Mockernuts are preferred mast for wildlife, especially squirrels. Black
bears, foxes, beavers, and white-footed mice feed on the nuts, and
sometimes the bark. White-tailed deer browse the foliage, twigs and
nuts. Mockernuts are a minor source of food for ducks, quail, and
turkey [28].
PALATABILITY :
NO-ENTRY
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
Mockernut hickory provides cavity-nesting sites for a variety of birds
in the Missouri oak-hickory forest [2,7,27].
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
The deep lateral roots of mockernut hickory make it a valuable species
for watershed protection [25].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Mockernut hickory sawdust and chips are often used commercially to smoke
meats. Although mockernut kernels are edible, because of their size
they are rarely eaten by humans [25,28].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Mockernut hickory seedling establishment is difficult due to seed
predation. Infrequent bumper crops produce some seed, but seedling
survival is poor under a dense canopy. Clearcutting results in new
sapling stands when advanced regeneration is present. Without advanced
regeneration, clearcutting eliminates mockernut hickory except for stump
sprouting [22,28].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Mockernut hickory is a medium-to-large native, deciduous tree, typically
reaching a height of 65 to 100 feet (20-30 m) [10,12]. When grown in
association with other trees, mockernut hickory develops a long,
slender, straight trunk which is free of branchlets for about half the
height of the tree. The crown is open, narrow, and rounded at the top.
In the open, the crown covers much more of the length of the tree and is
generally oblong, with branches that bear straight branchlets.
Sometimes the branches droop. The trunk is often swollen at the base.
As with other hickories, a deep strong taproot develops [8,14].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Phanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Seed production and dissemination: Mockernut hickory requires a minimum
of 25 years to reach commercial seed-bearing age. Optimum production
occurs from 40 to 125 years, and the maximum age for commercial seed
production is 200 years. Good seed crops occur every 2 to 3 years. with
light seed crops in the intervening years. Approximately 50 to 75
percent of the fresh seed will germinate [28].
Mockernut hickory has one of the heaviest seeds of the hickory genus.
Cleaned seeds range from 32 to 113 per pound (70-200/kg). Seed is
disseminated mainly by gravity, squirrels, and birds [28].
Seedling development: Hickory nuts seldom remain viable on the ground
for more than 1 year. This species requires a moderately moist seedbed
for satisfactory seed germination; germination is epigeal. Seedlings
are slow growing.
Vegetative reproduction: Mockernut hickory will sprout prolifically
from the stump after cutting or fire. As the stumps increase in size,
the number of stumps that produce sprouts decreases [28].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
In the north, mockernut hickory grows on rocky hills and slopes and less
frequently on alluvial bottomlands [1]. In the Cumberland Mountains and
in the hills of southern Indiana, it grows on dry sites, typically south
and west slopes or dry ridges. Most of the merchantable mockernut
hickory grows on moderately fertile uplands. It attains its best
development on deep fertile soils [15,28].
In addition to those indicated by SAF cover types (DISTRIBUTION AND
OCCURRENCE) common tree associates of mockernut hickory include eastern
hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana), sweet birch (Betula lenta), bitternut
(Carya cordiformis), shagbark hickory (C. glabra), flowering dogwood
(Cornus florida), green ash (Fraxinus americana), and oaks (Quercus
spp.) [18,23].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Mockernut hickory is classified as intolerant of shade, but at certain
times during its life, may be variously classified as tolerant to
intolerant. It recovers rapidly from disturbances and is probably a
climax species on moist sites [17,28].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Mockernut hickory flowers open from early April in central Florida to
the end of May in eastern New England. The fruit ripens in September
and October, and the seed is dispersed from September through December
[21,31].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Mockernut hickory is extremely sensitve to fire because of the low
insulating capacity of the bark [24,28].
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 tomentosa
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Winter burning in a loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) stand in the lower
Atlantic Coastal Plain top-killed all mockernut hickory up to 4 inches
(10 cm) d.b.h. [13].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Mockernut hickory will sprout from the stump after aboveground portions
are killed by fire [3,6].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Late spring and early summer fires have the greatest weakening effect on
mockernut hickory. Repeated annual fires has eliminated mockernut
hickory in the prairies and central plains [13].
REFERENCES
SPECIES: Carya tomentosa
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