// SPECIES PROFILE · TREE · NATIVE

Black Hickory

Carya texana

The Cross Timbers' own hickory — black hickory takes the place of pignut and shagbark on dry, rocky NE Oklahoma uplands, growing right alongside post oak and blackjack on sandstone ridges where richer-soil hickories can't survive.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Juglandaceae
Group: tree
Native range: S-Cent. US: OK, AR, MO, TX, LA
USDA hardiness: Zones 6–9
Mature size: 40–60 ft
Sun: Full sun
Water: Drought-hardy; rocky upland soils
Wildlife value: Acorn-equivalent mast; lepidoptera larval host; turkey/squirrel forage
Ecological role: Cross Timbers hickory · drought-hardy uplander

Black Hickory (Carya texana) — *Carya texana*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Often overlooked but a critical wildlife mast tree on Tulsa-area ridges. Dark, deeply furrowed bark and small dark hickory nuts inside thin black husks distinguish it from its eastern cousins.

Why it's on this list: Cross Timbers hickory · drought-hardy uplander. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a Cross Timbers oak-hickory savanna, black hickory pairs naturally with: chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia), american persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), blackjack oak (Quercus marilandica), smooth sumac (Rhus glabra), and bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa).

black hickory works best as a canopy or sub-canopy partner above the herbaceous and shrub layers.

Black Hickory

Field Notes

Companion Planting

Photo Reference