Hickory Wind

Incoming! The hickory nuts were falling the other day. The big ones and the little ones. This is a Bitternut (Carya cordiformis), at least according to its label, and the nuts, the smallest below, certainly look right for the species. These ricocheted and caromed off branches as they fell, a subtle drumming (I mean, for drumming). The bigger nuts thudded down, smacking an occasional lower branch on the way before they thumped the ground. I certainly did not stand under that hard rain. A beaning there would have smarted.

I’m having trouble with the identification of these big ones, however. Mockernut (C. tomentosa) in the middle, I think. I want to say Shagbark (C. ovata) or Shellbark (C. laciniosa) for the top specimens, but the bark was not characteristic of those shaggy types.