Plant · P-543

Bitternut Hickory

Carya cordiformis

Bitternut Hickory is a wide-ranging eastern North American tree whose nut, despite being the easiest hickory to crack, is too bitter and astringent to eat - squirrels mostly leave it alone too. What the seed is actually good for is oil, pressed and burned in lamps for light. The tough, heavy wood makes strong tool handles and burns hot enough for the hickory smoke that flavours smoked meat, and the tree is also used as rootstock for grafting pecan varieties. Its deep taproot means seed needs to go straight into a deep pot or its permanent spot rather than being transplanted later.