Can be as difficult as oaks or pines The recent Hickory threads got me to wondering about a better way to id young Hickory before their bark takes on unmistakable identity. 5 years ago I bought some Shag, Mockernut and Pignut. After checking out leaf id on the different species I’m convinced the grower misidentified the seedlings or I somehow labeled the trees wrong. Shag is supposedly a slow grower. I have trees id’ed as Mockernut that have been slower growing than shag or pignut. The trees I have id’ed as pignut have too many leaflets, so I think they are Mockernut or Bitternut. Without the presence of nuts to use you can count the leaflets. Mockernut has 7-9 leaflets. Pignut will have 5-7, but usually 5. Another thing I noticed is Hickory growing in shade to partial sun will have bigger leaflets. In my area Pignut is most common and I occasionally see Mockernut. Hopefully this muddied the water some more on Hickory id. Mockernut with 8 leaflets Pignut 5 leaflets Thanks for attending my Hickory Tedtalk
