7. Carya pallida (Ashe) Engl. & Graebn. (sand hickory)

Map 1929

Plants trees to 30 m tall. Bark dark gray, deeply furrowed but remaining firmly attached (not exfoliating). Twigs 2–4 mm thick, reddish brown to brown, the terminal bud 5–10 mm long, dark brown to silvery gray or yellowish gray, the bud scales strongly overlapping, the bractlets around the axillary buds fused toward the base. Leaves with the petiole and rachis sparsely to densely hairy (densest at the leaflet bases), with (5)7 leaflets. Leaflets 3–14 cm long, 1–6 cm wide, lanceolate to elliptic or narrowly obovate, straight (appearing symmetrically tapered), the margins finely to coarsely toothed, glabrous or more commonly sparsely hairy (the hairs not noticeably clustered), the upper surface glabrous or occasionally with scattered hairs along the main veins (especially toward the leaflet base), also with scattered to dense, small, circular, yellow, peltate scales when young, the undersurface with scattered, branched (the branches appearing fasciculate) hairs mainly along the midvein or in the main vein axils, and also with a mixture of scattered to dense, larger, circular, silvery gray, peltate scales and smaller, circular, yellow, peltate scales. Staminate catkins noticeably stalked. Fruits 2.5–3.5 cm long, 2.5–3.0 cm wide, globose to somewhat pear-shaped, not or only slightly flattened, smooth or with low ridges along the 4 sutures, the husk 2–3 mm thick, splitting to the base or less commonly some of the sutures splitting 0.7–0.9 of their length, with small golden yellow scales that wear off with age. Nut usually slightly flattened, the shell 1–2 mm thick. Seed sweet. April–May.

Uncommon, known thus far only from Scott and Stoddard Counties (eastern [mostly southeastern] U.S. west to Missouri and Louisiana). Sand prairies, sand savannas, and less commonly mesic upland forests; usually in sandy soils.

This species was first reported for Missouri by T. E. Smith (1994), who noted that some trees in the state appear to be somewhat morphologically intermediate with C. texana.