Hickory Trees

There have been a lot of squirrelly things going on in my yard and woods this fall. Squirrels are everywhere, racing up and down trees, leaping from limb to limb. One can almost hear them shouting, "Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!" as they survey their choices for lunch.

The other day, as I was walking in the woods, I heard a rustle above my head, and looking up, saw two gray squirrels leaping from limb to limb, causing a shower of hickory nuts to come down on my head! Yes, the hickory trees of my area seem to have outdone themselves this year. Not only is there an abundance of nuts, but also, the nuts are bigger than usual. The other evening, I watched a gray squirrel race across the yard with what appeared to be a green ping-pong ball in his mouth!

Before the Ice Age, numerous species of hickories grew in the ancient forests of Europe, northern-Africa, Asia and North America. However today, there are only 17 species left in the world, eight of them growing in Missouri, where it is considered an important part of the state's oak-hickory forests. In my woods, the trees are predominantly oak and hickory. Two species of hickories are found in Mainland China and Mexico, and the other 15 species grow in the hardwood forests of the eastern and southern United States and Canada.

The extremely hard wood of the hickory is strong and impact resistant, so it is the preferred wood used for tool handles such as axes, picks, hammers and hatchets. In the past, early settlers used it in the hubs, rims and spokes of wagon wheels. Better grades of hickory today are also used in furniture and wall paneling. And of course, hickory wood is popular as a barbecue product, imparting an unmistakably delicious flavor to food. So you can be sure that whenever I fire up the grill, which is often, I lay a few fresh hickory twigs on top of the ashen coals, and enjoy the rich hickory flavor. And hickory nuts are an important source of food for squirrels, wild turkeys and even ducks.

There are two major groups of hickories in Missouri, the pecan hickories, which include the pecan, bitternut, and water hickories, and the true hickories, which include shagbark, shellbark, mockernut, pignut and black hickories. In my woods, the black, mockernut and pignut hickories are the most common, although a couple of stray shellbark hickories have also found a home here. They are said to grow throughout Missouri, with the exception of the Ozarks, yet here they are, growing happily where they are not suppossed to be.Makes me wonder if a traveling squirrel might have brought it from some fertile bottomland area, as his lunch, forgetting where he hid it?

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