Carya

Plant Characteristics

Origin:	✈	?

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	?"?" is not in the list (sun, part-sun, shade, unknown) of allowed values for the "Exposure" property.
Water:	◍	?"?" is not in the list (wet, moist, moderate, dry, less when dormant) of allowed values for the "Water" property.

Scientific Names

ExpandRead about Carya in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Carya (Karya, Greek name for the walnut tree). Syn., Hicoria. Juglandaceae. Hickory. Trees grown for their handsome foliage and strong habit, and some species for their edible nuts. Deciduous: branches with solid pith: lvs. alternate, without stipules, with 3-17 serrate lfts.: fls. monoecious, apetalous, appearing with the lvs.; stami nate fls. in axillary, slender, pendulous catkins, each fl. with 3-10 stamens, borne in the axil of a 3-lobed bract; pistillate fls. in a terminal, 2-10-fld. cluster or spike, consisting of a 1-celled ovary inclosed by a 4- lobed involucre: fr. globular to oblong, with a husk separating into 4 valves and a bony nut, incompletely 2-4-celled.—About 18 species of hickory, all in E. N. Amer. from Canada to Mex.; the Chinese species recently described by Dode from nuts only is probably not a Carya. See Rep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 7, pp. 28-42, pls. 1-23, and Rep. of U. S. Dept. Agric., Div. Pomol., Nut-Culture (1896), cited below as U. S. N. C. (the first number referring to the plate, the second and third to the figure). Hicoria is actually the older name, but Carya is retained as one of the "nomina conservanda" of the Vienna code of nomenclature, because of its long-established usage. The hickories are hardy ornamental; usually tall trees with rather large, deciduous odd-pinnate leaves, small greenish flowers, the staminate ones in conspicuous pendulous racemes, and with rather large green dehiscent fruits inclosing a mostly edible nut. The hickories are among the most beautiful and most useful trees of the American forest, and are all very ornamental park trees, with a straight, sometimes high and slender trunk and a large, graceful, pyramidal or oblong head of usually light green foliage, turning from yellow to orange or orange-brown in fall. They are hardy North except C. Pecan, C. aquatica and C. myristicaeformis, but C. Pecan thrives rarely in Massachusetts in sheltered positions. Most of the species have heavy hard strong and tough wood, much valued for many purposes, especially for handles of tools, manufacture of carriages and wagons, also for making baskets and for fuel. The nuts of some species, as C. Pecan and C. ovata, also C. laciniosa and some varieties of C. glabra and C. alba, are edible, and are sold in large quantities, mostly gathered from the woods, though in later years orchards of improved varieties have been planted. The hickories generally thrive best in rich moist soil, but some, especially C. glabra, C. alba and C. ovata, grow equally well in drier localities. They are of rather slow growth, and difficult to transplant if taken from the woods; therefore the seeds are often planted where the trees are to stand, but if grown in the nursery and transplanted several times when young, trees 6-10 ft. high may be transplanted successfully. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

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Propagation

Propagation is usually by seeds stratified and sown in spring in rows about 3 inches deep; named varieties may be grafted in spring in the greenhouse, on potted stock of C. cordiformis, which seems to be the best species for this purpose, veneer- or splice-grafting being usually employed; sometimes also increased by root-sprouts. For further horticultural advice, see Hickory-nut and Pecan.^CH

Pests and diseases

A large number of insects prey upon the hickory, attacking the wood, foliage and fruit, for which see the Fifth Ann. Rep. of the U. S. Entom. Com., pp. 285-329. There are also some fungi sometimes causing an early defoliation of the trees.^CH

Species

• C. arkansana, Sarg. Allied to C. glabra. Tree, to 70 ft.: bark dark gray, scaly: branchlets pubescent: lfts. 5-7, lanceolate, densely pubescent when unfolding, glabrous at maturity, 4-7 in. long: fr. ovoid or obovoid; husk usually splitting to the middle; nut slightly obovoid; shell very thick and hard; kernel sweet, small. Ark. and Okla.^CH
• C. Buckleyi, Durand (C. texana, Buckl., not DC.). Allied to C. alba. Tree, to 50 ft., with dark, furrowed bark: lfts. 7, lanceolate or oblanceolate, pubescent on the veins below, 3-6 in. long: fr. subglobose or ovoid, 1½ in. across; husk thin, splitting to the base: nut reddish brown, veined; shell hard; kernel sweet. Texas to Okla. and Ark.^CH
• C. carolinaeseptentrionalis, Engler & Graebn. (Hicoria carolinae-sep-tentrionalis, Ashe). Allied to C. ovata. Branchlets slender: lfts. 3-5, lanceolate, glabrous: fr. smaller; nut thin-shelled. N. C. to Ga.^CH
• C. floridana, Sarg. Allied to C. cordiformis. Buds valvate, brownish yellow: lfts. usually 5, elliptic-oblong to lanceolate, densely scaly beneath, 2-3½ in. long: fr. obovoid, about 1 in. long, husk tardily splitting to the base; nut obovoid or subglobose. Fla.^CH
• C. megacarpa, Sarg. Closely related to C. glabra. Bark close: buds larger: lfts. to 8 in. long: fr. broadly obovoid, to 1½ in. long; husk thick, tardily dehiscent to the middle; nut obovoid; kernel small, sweet. N.Y. to Mo. and Fla. S.T.S. 2:180.
• C. mexicana, Engelm. Tree, with shaggy bark and tomentose-pubcscent lvs.: fr. depressed, with rather thick husk and broad, sharply 4-angled, white nut. Mex. The only species not native to the U. S.^CH
• C. texana, DC. (Hicoria texana, Le Conte). Similar to C. Pecan, but lfts. broader, less falcate, almost sessile: nut smaller, much darker, with somewhat rough surface; kernel bitter. Texas.^CH
• C. texana (syn. C. Buckleyi)^CH

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Carya. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Carya QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)