Also known as pig pecan, swamp hickory or water hickory, the bitter pecan, Carya aquatica, is a close cousin of the sweet pecan. Like the sweet pecan, bitter pecan is a native deciduous shade tree that can grow up to one hundred feet in height, producing striking gold foliage in late autumn. Unlike the sweet pecan, the bitter pecan produces nuts that are inedible to humans, although waterfowl and small mammals, such as squirrels and raccoons, find them irresistible. The tree’s wood is considered inferior as a source of lumber, and as more desirable trees get chopped down, this stately native hickory increasingly thrives in the low, wet woodland landscapes of St. Martin Parish.
