Mockernut hickory or bigbud hickory (Carya tomentosa) is a medium to large deciduous tree. Leaves are compound and arranged in 7-9 leaflets that are each 6” long, making the entire leaf 12″ long. The leafstalk is stout and hairy. The underleaf is pale and hairy. Twigs are orange-brown, stout, and hairy with large, long, stout buds. Buds are smooth and whitish after dark outer scales shed in the fall. Bark is tight (never shaggy), in smooth, round-topped ridges that interlace in a diamond pattern. Fruit is large and oval to pear-shaped with a husk that splits at the base to show a 4-ribbed nut. Native to eastern North America and common in the Ohio Valley and the South in ecosystems ranging from moist lowlands to dry slopes and ridges. Hickories differ from walnuts in having branched flower catkins, smaller nuts with husks that split, fewer larger leaflets and solid, not chambered, pith. C. tomentosa is the most wide spread of the hickories. The species name comes from the Latin tomentum, meaning “covered with dense short hairs” referring to the leaf underside. The common name Mockernut comes from the Dutch name for the tree ‘Mokernoot’. A moker is a heavy hammer with a short stem hammer neededto break the very thick shells of the nuts to get at the edible seed. It is also called a “White Hickory” because of the color of the sapwood. This tree is prized for its timber which can withstand impact making it the perfect wood for tool handles and sport equipment such as hockey sticks. When burnt the wood emits a fragrant smoke used to treat meat. This is the only hickory with thick velvety twigs and dense hair on the undersides of the leaves. Mockernut hickory was offered vary sparingly in the nursery trade prior to 1888 and is rarely cultivated.

Specimen Provenance:

Common name: Mockernut Hickory, Big-Bud Hickory, White Hickory, Bullnut Hickory

Species Native Origin: Cental and Middle North America

New Jersey Status: USDA Native

Habit: 50 – 100’ high, 50’ wide; bole diameter 1 ½’ – 2’.

Habitat: Zone 4 – 9.

Trunk/Stem: Bark silver gray; initially smooth but develops veritical orange fissures with age but the bark is never shaggy or exfoliating.

Leaves: Deciduous, Pinnately Compound, Alternate. The leaf bud is characteristically large, ¾” long. Leaves 12” long with 7 – 9 obovate leaflets Leaves dark green above with a paler underside. Leaves emit a fragrance when crushed. Both the shoot and petiole are covered with fine hair. Autumn color bright to tawny yellow. Crushed leaves emit odor of resin , paint, lemon or mown grass.

Flowers: Monoecious

Fruits and seeds: Fruit 1 ¾” long, round to oval yellow-green husk. The fruit has 4 parts and seams like an old-fashioned football. Nut has 4 ribs.

Hickories differ from walnuts in having branched flower catkins, smaller nuts with husks that split, fewer larger leaflets and solid, not chambered, pith. C. tomentosa is the most wide spread of the hickories. The species name comes from the Latin tomentum, meaning “covered with dense short hairs” referring to the leaf underside. This tree is prized for its timber which can withstand impact making it the perfect wood for tool handles and sport equipment such as hocky sticks. When burnt the wood emits a fragrant smoke used to treat meat. This is the only hickory with thick velvety twigs and dense hair on the undersides of the leaves.

The common name comes from the need for a “mokker” hammer (from the Dutch, moker-noot or heavy hammer) to break the very thick shells to get at the edible seed. It is also called a “White Hickory” because of the color of the sapwood. One of the common name states that the tree has large leaf buds.