Click on the images help you identify a bitternut hickory.
Form
Height is 40 to 75 feet, with a trunk diameter of 10 to 25 inches. The tree is tall and slender, with a straight, green trunk and a broad, rounded crown.
Bark
Granite gray, faintly tinged with yellow. Bark breaks into thin, plate-like scales.
Leaf
Leaves are alternate on the stem, 6 to 10 inches long, and pinnately compound, with seven to 11 leaflets that are bright green with finely toothed margins. Leaves are the smallest of all hickories. They turn golden yellow in autumn. The tree’s bright yellow winter buds are a useful identification feature.
Fruit (seed)
Fruit is a nearly round nut with a sharply pointed tip, enclosed in a thin, scaly husk that splits about halfway down in four sections. The very bitter kernel gives the tree its common name, bitternut.
Range
Found in rich, moist woods, common southward and extending through the Big Woods north to Mille Lacs and infrequently to the upper Mississippi River and tributaries of the St. Louis River. Shade-intolerant and moderately slow-growing.
Wood uses
The wood is hard, strong, heavy, and reddish brown. It is used for hoops, fuel, farm implements, firewood, and smoking meats. It is considered somewhat inferior to other hickories.