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• Carya tomentosa

Carya tomentosa — mockernut hickory

Facts

Mockernut hickory is the most abundant of the hickories in much of its range, but it reaches its northern limit in southern New England. In mast years, it produces good crops of relatively large nuts, which are an important food for wildlife. Because of the hardness of its wood, most of the harvested wood goes to making tool handles. The Cherokee made much use of mockernut hickory, using the wood to make tool handles and arrow shafts, and the inner bark to make baskets, dress cuts, and make a tea to treat colds and other conditions.

Habitat

Forests, talus and rocky slopes, woodlands

Characteristics

• Buds or leaf scars

  Bud scale number

  there are three or more scales on the winter bud, and they overlap like shingles, with one edge covered and the other edge exposed

  Bud scar shape (Fraxinus)

  NA

  Collateral buds

  there are no collateral buds on the sides of the branches

  Leaf scar arrangement

  there is one leaf scar per node on the stem or twig

  Superposed buds

  there are no superposed buds on the branch

  Terminal bud

  the branch has a terminal bud on it

  Winter bud scale hairs

  • the winter bud scales are hairy
  • the winter bud scales have no hairs on them

  Winter bud scales

  the winter bud is perulate (partially or completely covered with one or more scales)

  Winter bud shape

  the winter buds are ovoid (egg-shaped)

  Winter bud stalks

  the winter buds have no stalks

• Flowers

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused to one another

  Enlarged sterile flowers

  there are no enlarged sterile flowers on the plant

  Flower petal color

  NA

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Hairs on ovary (Amelanchier)

  NA

  Hypanthium present

  the flower does not have a hypanthium

  Inflorescence hairs

  there are hairs on some part of the inflorescence

  Inflorescence position

  the inflorescences grow on the twigs

  Inflorescence type

  the inflorescence is an ament (catkin; slender, usually pendulous inflorescence with crowded unisexual flowers)

  Number of pistils

  1

  Ovary position

  the ovary is below the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  • the flower includes only one cycle of petals or sepals
  • the flower lacks sepals and petals

  Petal appearance

  NA

  Petal fusion

  NA

  Sepal appearance

  NA

  Sepal cilia (Ilex)

  NA

  Sepal tip glands

  NA

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  NA

  Stamen number

  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13 or more
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  NA

  Fruit tissue origin

  there are no flower parts that form part of the fruit

  Fruit type (general)

  • the fruit is dry and splits open when ripe
  • the fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  • the fruit is a drupe (fleshy, with a firm inner ovary wall that encloses a single seed)
  • the fruit is a nut (dry and indehiscent, with a hard wall, usually containing only one seed and usually subtended by an involucre)

  Nut with spines (Fagaceae)

  NA

  Wings on fruit

  there are no wings on the fruit

• Glands or sap

  Sap color

  the sap is clear and watery

  Stalked glands on fruit (Rosa)

  NA

• Growth form

  Growth form

  the plant is a tree

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf has hairs on it

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is fuzzy or hairy

  Leaf blade base shape

  • the base of the leaf blade is cuneate (wedge-shaped, tapers to the base with relatively straight, converging edges), or narrow
  • the base of the leaf blade is rounded

  Leaf blade edges

  the edge of the leaf blade has teeth

  Leaf blade edges (Acer)

  NA

  Leaf blade flatness

  the leaf is flat (planar) at the edges

  Leaf blade hairs

  the leaf blade has tangled or woolly-looking hairs, without glands

  Leaf blade length

  300–500 mm

  Leaf blade scales

  • there are no scales on the leaf blades
  • there are scales on the leaf blades

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is elliptic (widest near the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is obovate (egg-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)
  • the leaf blade is ovate (widest below the middle and broadly tapering at both ends)

  Leaf blade texture

  • the leaf blade is coriaceous (has a firm, leathery texture)
  • the leaf blade is herbaceous (has a leafy texture)

  Leaf blade translucent dots

  there are no translucent dots on the leaf blade

  Leaf blade vein pattern

  the main veins of the leaf blade are pinnate (the secondary veins branch off at intervals from the main central vein) and non-arcuate (not arched towards the leaf tip)

  Leaf blade veins

  the leaf blade has one main vein running from the base toward the tip

  Leaf duration

  the leaves drop off in winter (or they wither but persist on the plant)

  Leaf form

  the plant is broad-leaved (with broadly flattened leaf blades)

  Leaf lobe tips (Quercus)

  NA

  Leaf midrib glands

  the midrib of the leaf blade lacks glands on the upper surface

  Leaf stalk

  the leaves have leaf stalks

  Leaf stalk attachment to leaf

  the petiole attaches at the basal margin of the leaf blade

  Leaf stalk nectaries

  there are no nectaries on the leaf stalk

  Leaf stalk shape

  the leaf stalk is not flattened

  Leaf teeth

  • the leaf blade margin is serrate (with forward-pointing) or dentate (with outward-pointing) with medium-sized to coarse teeth
  • the leaf blade margin is serrulate (with forward-pointing) or denticulate (with outward-pointing) with tiny teeth

  Leaf teeth hairs (Carya)

  there are no tufts of hairs on the edges of the leaf blade

  Leaf type

  the leaf blade is compound (i.e., made up of two or more discrete leaflets

  Leaves per node

  there is one leaf per node along the stem

  Specific leaf type

  the leaf is compound, with a single terminal leaflet and more than two additional leaflets

  Stipules

  there are no stipules on the plant, or they fall off as the leaf expands

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Massachusetts
  • Rhode Island

  Specific habitat

  • forests
  • talus or rocky slopes
  • woodlands

• Scent

  Plant odor

  • the plant does not have much of an odor, or it has an unpleasant or repellant odor
  • the plant has a pleasantly aromatic odor

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Aerial roots

  the plant has no aerial roots

  Bark texture

  the bark of an adult plant is ridged or plated

  Branch brittleness (willows only)

  NA

  Branch cross-section

  the branch is circular in cross-section, or it has five or more sides, so that there are no sharp angles

  First-year cane (Rubus)

  NA

  Lenticels on twigs

  there are clearly lenticels on the twigs

  Pith type

  the pith inside the twig is solid, completely filled with spongy tissue

  Short shoots

  there are no peg- or knob-like shoots present

  Twig bloom

  there is no bloom on the twig

  Twig hairs

  the twigs have hairs, but the hairs do not have glands

  Twig papillae (Vaccinium species only)

  NA

  Twig scales

  there are scales on the twig surface

  Twig winter color

  • brown
  • red

  Wings on branch

  the branch does not have wings on it

  armature on plant

  the plant does not have spines, prickles, or thorns

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae