Hickory, Black

The Black Hickory is the more common species found in northern and eastern Texas, growing on hillsides and sandy uplands with post and blackjack oaks. Its rusty-brown hairs are distinctive and found on the young leaves and branches. It can form a tree 60 to 75 feet high with a trunk up to 2 feet in diameter.

The BARK is dark grey or nearly black, deeply divided into rough ridges, or it may be irregularly fissured and separated into thin scales. The winter buds are ovoid and covered with rusty hairs mixed with silvery scales.

The LEAVES, 8 to 12 inches long with 5 to 7 (usually 7) leaflets and rusty-hairy slender petioles, are dark green lustrous above; much paler beneath. The FLOWERS are similar to other hickories.

The FRUIT is ovoid, narrow or abruptly contracted into a short stalk at the base, with a husk 1/12 to 1/6 inch thick, splitting to the middle or nearly to the base. The sweet-seeded nut is nearly obovoid to oblong, rounded at the ends, compressed and slightly four-angled, with a shell 1/6 to 1/5 inch thick.