Photo: Eric R. Dion, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Scrub Hickory

Carya floridana

Also called Hicoria floridana.

A small hickory of Florida's dry scrub sand, with sweet, hard-shelled nuts and rusty scales beneath its leaves.

Drought tolerantWildlife valueEdibleFall color

Type: Small tree
Mature height: 10–30 ft
USDA zones: 8–10
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens and dry uplands
Native range: Florida See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Scrub hickory grows wild in Florida and nowhere else. It is a close cousin of pignut hickory, and the two blend into each other where their ranges meet. It stands up to hurricane winds, and its leaves turn color in fall. More than two thirds of Florida's original scrub is gone, since its high, dry ground suits homes and farms. Use it in a dry, sandy yard, a scrub restoration or a planting for wildlife.

Size, growth and what to expect

Scrub hickory grows at a moderate rate, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. Most stand 10 to 30 feet as a large shrub or small tree, usually taller than broad. It is long-lived, and the tallest trees in Florida reach 47 feet.

It flowers in early spring, and the nuts ripen in fall. The fruit is about 1¼ to 1½ inches long, in a husk that splits to the base. The thick shell holds a sweet kernel and takes a hard whack to crack. Small mammals eat the nuts, and the leaves feed luna moth, royal walnut moth and walnut sphinx caterpillars.

In the wild it grows in central Florida, from Marion and Volusia counties south to Charlotte and Palm Beach counties, and it is gone from Broward and Miami-Dade. Its home is scrub, scrubby flatwoods and dry hammocks on deep sand.

How to grow Scrub Hickory

Scrub hickory wants full sun or light shade. Give it deep, dry sand that drains fast, acid to near neutral. Once rooted it needs no watering and takes long droughts. It will not take salt spray or flooding by salt or brackish water. Set trees 20 feet apart, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and at least 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship potted. Plant it where its roots will never be disturbed, and set it young where it can stay. Plant it while dormant, in a hole wider than the pot and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, fill with the native sand, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Soak nuts two to four days, then chill them damp in the refrigerator for 30 to 150 days. Sow them in spring an inch deep under hardware cloth, or squirrels dig them up.

Water weekly through the first summer until the roots take hold, then leave it to the rain. Guard the stem from rabbits with a tube for the first few years. Prune only to shape it, in the dormant season.

Male and female flowers grow on the same tree. Hickories can set nuts with their own pollen, but a tree's catkins and flowers often open at different times, so a second hickory nearby helps. Fallen nuts and leaves make some litter under the tree.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

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