This is a medium to large tree reaching 70-100 ft. with a dbh of 1-2 ft.

Leaves:
 Arrangement: alternate; usually 5 leaflets

[if 789 not_equals=””]  Shape: lanceolate[/if 100]

 Margin: finely serrate

 Texture: glabrous above and pubescent below

Photo Courtesy: Robert H. Mohlenbrock, USDA NRCS Plants Database

The bark is thick, firm, dark gray and closely and deeply furrowed. It has interlacing ridges that form diamond shapes.

The twigs are glabrous, slender, and reddish-brown in color.

This species produces a pear-shaped nut, with a thin husk that typically has a teardrop point at one end*

It has a glabrous petiole and rachis which distinguishes it from the pubescent rachis on mockernut hickory. The teardrop pointed nut is also unique to pignut.

This species is widely distributed across the eastern United States: north into Maine, across the central hardwood region into Iowa, south into central Florida and east to the Atlantic coast.

Pignut has intermediate tolerance of shade. It grows well on both dry and mesic upland sites.

The wood is used in specialty applications. Deer and small mammals browse it’s leaves and twigs, and feed on the nuts.