Pecan

The largest of the hickories, pecan typically grows 70-100 ft. and can reach 160 ft. It is massive-trunked, with stout branches supporting a symmetrical, oval crown. Slate gray bark remains smooth for years. Pinnately-compound, deciduous leaves are 12-20 in. long with 11-17 leaflets. Midrib of the leaflet off center with the wider part of the blade toward the leaf tip. Flowers inconspicuous, male in elongate clusters, both sexes on same tree. Fruit an oblong nut enclosed in a thin husk splitting open at maturity, husk often persistent on the tree for weeks after the nut has fallen.