Carya floridana
C. floridana Sarg. Scrub Hickory
Scrub hickory has the most restricted distribution of any
Carya species in the United States, being confined to about 20
counties in central Florida centered around Osceola County (Little,
1977)(distribution map).
C. floridana is identified by the abundant, rustcolored
scales on the buds and lower leaf surfaces which separate the
species from all others except C. texana. Herbarium specimens
of scrub hickory can be separated from those of black hickory
only by information on the origin of the samples, the two species
being entirely allopatric. It is interesting that these two species
show close similarity grouping based on data from chromatographic
analysis of nut oils (Stone et al., 1969).
Scrub hickory varies in habit from a multitrunked shrub,
bearing fruit on stems 3 to 4 feet in height, to a single trunked
tree of 50 to 70 feet in height (Sargent 1922). Its nuts were
found by Abrahamson and Abrahamson (1989) to be the most energy
and nutritionally rich of the nine animal dispersed fruits of
the Florida sandridge habitat which those authors examined. However,
use by wildlife is limited to rodents, black bear, foxes, raccoons,
and specialist insect seed predators which can cut the thick,
hard shells.
LJ Grauke , Research Horticulturist & CuratorUSDA-ARS Pecan Genetics
Route 2 Box 133
Somerville, TX 77879
tele: 409-272-1402
fax: 409-272-1401
e-mail: ljg@tamu.edu
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