# Nutmeg Hickory (Carya myristiciformis) > The rarest hickory, with leaves backed in silvery scales and sweet, thick-shelled nuts that look like nutmegs, from scattered stands across the South. Also called swamp hickory, bitter water hickory. Category: Nut & Fruit Trees. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nutmeg-hickory/ ![Nutmeg hickory (Carya myristiciformis) silvery new leaves and hanging male catkins in spring](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/nutmeg-hickory-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: William (Ned) Friedman, CC BY-SA 4.0 ยท [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACarya_myristiciformis.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Large tree - Mature height: 80 to 100 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 9 - Grows wild in: Floodplain forests and stream banks - Native range: 9 states, north to North Carolina, south to Louisiana and west to Texas (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas) - Sun: Full - Soil moisture: Average, Wet - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Rare, Edible, Wildlife value, Fall color - Sold as: Saplings, Nuts Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Nutmeg hickory is the rarest species in its genus. Silver scales coat the underside of each leaf and age to bronze. The reddish-brown nut, mottled with tan, gave the tree both its common name and its botanical one. Its scattered stands may be relics of an older flora. Give it room on a big lawn or a creek terrace, where it can grow for generations and feed the squirrels that bury its nuts. ## Size, growth and what to expect Nutmeg hickory grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It may reach only 30 feet in its first 20 years, and close to 100 feet at maturity. Forest trees reach 80 to 100 feet, with a trunk 2 feet through and a narrow crown. Seed bearing starts at about 30 years, with good crops every 2 to 3 years. It flowers in April and May, and the nuts ripen in September and October. The fruit is about an inch long, with a husk that splits to the base and a thick shell around a sweet kernel. Squirrels cut the nuts while they are still green. It grows in small, scattered stands from the Carolina coastal plain west to Arkansas and eastern Texas, and in northeastern Mexico. It is abundant only near Selma, Alabama, and in southern Arkansas. Its home is rich, moist but well-drained bottomland, stream banks and bluffs, often on limy soils. ## How to grow Nutmeg Hickory Nutmeg hickory wants full sun and a deep, moist soil that still drains, from sand to clay. It takes limy ground, and it will not grow in shade. Set trees 40 feet apart, and keep each one 30 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant a dormant sapling from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole deep enough for the taproot to hang straight. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Plant it where it will stay, since the taproot can reach 4 feet or more. Sow nuts in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth, or squirrels dig them up. For spring, soak them two to four days, then chill them damp in the refrigerator for 60 to 120 days. Seedlings come up from late April to early June. Water every week or two through the first summer when rain is short. Rabbits gnaw young hickory bark and deer browse the tips, so guard the tree with a tube or cage for three years. Prune only to keep a single leader, in the dormant season. Nutmeg hickory carries male and female flowers on the same tree. Like other hickories, it sheds its pollen on the wind, often before or after its own female flowers are ready, so a second hickory nearby improves the crop. Seedling trees bear at about 30 years. Twig girdlers can prune young trees, the hickory bark beetle strikes in dry years, and sapsuckers riddle the bark. No serious disease troubles it. ## Sources - [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Nutmeg Hickory, Maisenhelder and Francis 1990](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/nutmeg-hickory) - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Carya myristiciformis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500319) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Carya chapter](https://rngr.net/publications/wpsm/genera/c/at_download/file) - [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Carya myristiciformis](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/carya-myristiciformis/) - [NatureServe Explorer: Carya myristiciformis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129485/Carya_myristiciformis) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Carya myristiciformis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CAMY) - [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Carya myristiciformis](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/carya/carya-myristiciformis/) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Why native trees become rare, and ten rare eastern species worth growing](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/why-native-trees-become-rare/index.html.md) - [Six trees not to plant near a house, and what to plant instead](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/trees-not-to-plant-near-a-house/index.html.md) - [Pruning at the branch collar, and when to make the cut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/pruning-at-the-branch-collar/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Nutmeg Hickory, add ?species=nutmeg-hickory with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=nutmeg-hickory&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Nutmeg Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=nutmeg-hickory): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=nutmeg-hickory - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Nutmeg Hickory is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=nutmeg-hickory - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Nutmeg Hickory needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=nutmeg-hickory:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Nutmeg Hickory flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.