Carya Tomentosa - Associated Forest Cover

Associated Forest Cover

Mockernut hickory is associated with the eastern Oak-hickory forest and the beech-maple forest. The species does not exist in sufficient amounts to be included as a title species in the Society of American Foresters forest cover types. Nevertheless, it is identified as an associated species in eight cover types. Three of the upland oak types and the bottom land type are subclimax to climax. The types are:

Central Forest Region (upland oaks)-Post Oak-Blackjack Oak (Type 40), White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Type 52), White Oak (Type 53), Black Oak (Type 110).

Southern Forest Region (southern yellow pines) Shortleaf Pine (Type 75), Loblolly Pine-Shortleaf Pine (Type 80); (oak-pine type) Loblolly Pine-Hardwood (Type 82); (bottom-land type) Swamp Chestnut Oak-Cherrybark Oak (Type 91).

In the central forest upland oak types, mockernut is commonly associated with:

• pignut hickory (Carya glabra)
• shagbark hickory (C. ovata)
• bitternut hickory (C. cordiformis)
• black oak (Quercus velutina)
• scarlet oak (Q. coccinea)
• chestnut oak (Q. muehlenbergii)
• post oak (Q. stellata)
• bur oak (Q. macrocarpa)
• blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica)
• yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
• maples (Acer spp.)
• white ash (Fraxinus americana)
• eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
• eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis)

Common understory vegetation includes:

• flowering dogwood (Cornus Florida)
• sumac (Rhus spp.)
• sassafras (Sassafras albidum)
• sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum)
• downy serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.)
• redbud (Cercis canadensis)
• eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana)
• American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)

Mockernut is also associated with:

• wild grapes (Vitis spp.)
• rosebay rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum)
• mountain-laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
• greenbriers (Smilax spp.)
• blueberries (Vaccinium spp.)
• witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)
• spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
• New Jersey tea (Ceanothus americanus)
• wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens)
• tick-trefoil (Desmodium spp.)
• bluestem (Andropogon spp.)
• poverty oatgrass (Danthonia spicata)
• sedges (Carex spp.)
• pussytoes (Antennaria spp.)
• goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
• asters (Aster or other genera, depending on the classification).

In the southern forest, mockernut grows with:

• shortleaf pine
• loblolly pine
• pignut hickory
• gums
• oaks
• sourwood
• winged elm (Ulmus alata)
• flowering dogwood
• redbud
• sourwood
• persimmon (Diospyros uirginiana)
• eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana)
• sumacs
• hawthorns (Crataegus spp.)
• blueberries
• honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.)
• mountain-laurel
• viburnums
• greenbriers
• grapes

In the Loblolly Pine-Hardwood Type in the southern forest, mockernut commonly grows in the upland and drier sites with:

• white oak (Quercus alba)
• post oak
• northern red oak (Q. rubra)
• southern red oak (Q. falcata)
• scarlet oak
• shagbark and pignut hickories
• blackgum
• flowering dogwood
• hawthorn
• sourwood
• greenbrier
• grape
• honeysuckle
• blueberry

In the southern bottom lands, mockernut occurs in the Swamp Chestnut Oak-Cherrybark Oak Type along with:

• green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica)
• white ash
• shagbark
• Shellbark hickory (Carya laciniosa)
• bitternut hickories
• white oak
• Delta post oak (Quercus stellata var. paludosa)
• Shumard oak (Q. shumardii)
• blackgum.

Understory trees include:

• American pawpaw (Asimina triloba)
• flowering dogwood
• painted buckeye (Aesculus sylvatica)
• American hornbeam
• devils-walking stick (Aralia spinosa)
• redbud
• American holly (Ilex opaca)
• Dwarf palmetto (Sabal minor)
• Coastal plain willow (Salix caroliniana)