Mockernut Hickory

Researched by Harley Rosenzweig

Species: Carya tomentosa
Common name: Mockernut hickory, white hickory
Family:  Juglandaceae (Walnut Family)
Clade:  Angiosperms (flowering seed plants)

Coordinates:  39.7081122, -75.11840268

Tree Tag: 483
A tag using this number is placed near the tree.

The mockernut hickory has gray bark with deep wrinkles. The wood beneath the bark has many different industrial uses, such as lumber, charcoal, and fuel. The average mockernut hickory grows up to 60 feet tall but can reach heights up to 100 feet.

Mockernut hickories have compound leaves with multiple leaflets. This species of hickory typically has seven leaflets per leaf but sometimes can have five or nine. The leaflets are arranged in a pinnate fashion, meaning that one leaflet is at the tip, and the other leaflets are paired on each side of the leaf. The entire leaf can be up to 20 inches long, while the individual leaflets can be up to eight inches each.

Carya tomentosa in Latin, the mockernut hickory’s name derives from the word “tomentum,” which translates to “covered with dense short hairs.”  The underside of the leaf is covered with dense short hairs that help identify this native tree. The leaves appear green in the spring, but as the seasons progress, they turn yellow before dropping.

The mockernut hickory is monoecious, meaning each tree has male and female flowers. The male pollen-producing flowers appear as long catkins, which look like little cat tails that are four to five inches long and stem from the branches of leaves from the previous season. The female flowers look like small spikes and branch from buds of the current year. The pollen is wind-dispersed. After fertilization, female flowers produce seeds inside of fruits, which are dispersed by squirrels and birds from September to December.
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Researcher’s Biography

Harley Rosenzweig

Harley Rosenzweig earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences in 2023.