There are eighteen species of Hickory in the genus Carya (from Ancient Greek for “nut”). Those eighteen, in turn, are in the Walnut or Juglandaceae family. Twelve of these Hickory Trees are native to North America. Right now on my mountain they are literally shining bright. The photograph above has Red Maple leaves in the foreground and gleaming through from behind are Hickory leaves in their autumn splendor.

The leaves of Hickories are compound. They have leaflets growing opposite each other along the leaf’s central stem, or rachis, with a final leaflet at the end. All this comprises the whole leaf, an odd number of leaflets makes up one leaf, of all Hickory trees.

There are four species of Hickory native to Virginia. One of them, Shagbark Hickory, is quite common further up the mountain. It might be my favorite of the Hickories because its identity is so obvious. Easy is good.