Pecan

Latin (group) name: Carya

Latin (specific) name: Carya Illinoensis (Wangenheim) K. Koch

Average max height: 90' to 100'

Average diameter: 2' to 4'

Official state tree: Texas

Category: American Woods The Hardwoods - Broadleafs

Wood Research

The Tree

The Pecan is one of four of the commercially important pecan hickories, namely Sweet Pecan, Water Hickory (also called Bitter Pecan), Nutmeg Hickory and Bitternut Hickory. The largest of the hickory genus, the Pecan is often 90 to 100 feet high, has a trunk two to four feet in diameter, and a symmetrical crown and heavy branches. The light brown or gray bark is thick and deep furrowed. The leaf resembles other hickories, and the edible thick shelled nuts are a household delicacy. The tree has been developed to produce large, very thin shelled, meaty nuts which have a valuable commercial market. The Pecan is the official State tree of Texas, and is sometimes erroneously mentioned as the State tree of Oklahoma, which is the Eastern Redbud chosen in 1937.

Pecan tree bark

Pecan fruit

Pecan foliage

Common Names in Use

Pecan (Va., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Ga., Ala., Miss., Tex., La., Ark., Mo., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Kans.)
Pecan Nut (La.)
Pecanier (La.)
Pecan-tree (La.)

Growth Range

The natural growth range of Pecan (Sweet Pecan) extends from Indiana to the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and Kansas, southward to Alabama,Texas and Mexico. Improved cultivated varieties of Pecan have very greatly extended its range to other States.

The Wood

The heartwood of the Pecan is a pale brown to a reddish-brown, or a light-brown tinged with red. The sapwood is almost white, sometimes lightly tinged with brown. The wood is heavy, stiff, strong, very hard, brittle, compact in grain. The medullary rays are quite conspicuous. The wood requires careful machining but may be planed readily and turned for the many uses of wood requiring strength and durability.

Hicoria Pecan (Britt.)

Uses

The better grades of Pecan wood are used for parts for motor vehicles, furniture, flooring, handles, baseball bats, etc. Some Pecan veneer is used for interior trim. The wood is also used for smoking meats because of the pleasing flavor imparted by hickory smoke.

Pecan bowl turned by Jim Robinson

Pecan platter turned by Gerald Lawrence

Pecan yarn bowl turned by Gerald Lawrence

Pecan goblet by Gerald Lawrence

File References