Buds: Ovoid, short-pointed, up to ½ inch long, covered by shiny silvery-golden scales and tipped with a small tuft of hairs.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 5-7 leaflets; leaflets lance-shaped, pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, finely toothed along the edges, dark green and smooth or sometimes hairy on the upper surface, paler and smooth or hairy on the lower surface, up to 6 inches long, less than half as wide, the stalks covered with reddish and yellowish scales and hairs.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing after the leaves have begun to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate crowded in slender, drooping catkins, the pistillate in groups of 1-2.
Fruit: Spherical to ellipsoid, up to 1½ inches across, the husk yellow-green, thin, minutely hairy or scaly, splitting nearly to the base, the nut 4-angled, the seed sweet.
Wood: Heavy, hard, brown.
Uses: Fuel, fence posts.
Habitat: Dry ridges and cliffs.
Range: Southern Indiana across to Kansas, south to Texas and Louisiana.
Distinguishing Features: The Black Hickory differs from the somewhat similar Pignut and Sweet Pignut Hickories by the yellow scales along the leafstalks.
