#carya

Connor and I after queer birders nature journaling event went past ridge 3 at Caldwell and we also found an old growth tower of a pecan

Carya illinoinensis

I've never seen one this large in my life, at least over 70 but I couldn't see the tip or even the first branch. Pecan are very strange to me; the bark texture is like if a white walnut, a shag bark, and a chestnut oak merged together at full maturity, kinda like a schumard oak with a white walnut bark when younger. The narrow shallow husks are one easy indicator.

Compare to other natives for Ohio.

also like always these photos are public domain, feel free to use them for anything you want. because fuck capitalism. Here's the iNaturalist observation with the full size photos. And also if you're in Savannah, Georgia, you can try your luck at collecting seeds from this tree, since it's in one of the parks :)

[ID: Two photos of a white hand holding a pecan, a type of tree nut. The first shows the pecan still partly in is shell, with a section removed to show the long, light brown nut meat inside. the second photo has the pecan fully removed from the shell, with both halves of the nut meat sitting on the hand, almost entirely whole, except for some peices missing at one end. End ID.]

Link to the identification guide I made, on the web archive.

Link to the identification guide on google docs.

You are encouraged to download it and save for later. You are also encouraged to check with the guide while looking at the pictures below to figure out which species they are.

This is to see whether or not the guide I made can actually help people tell the various species I talk about in it apart, since I obviously can't test myself!

Please let me know of any suggestions or improvements I could make to the guide :)

Here is the quiz! If you want to see if you got it right, you can click on the link to the observation above each photo!

The multiple choice answers will just be in the same order each time because I'm lazy lol.

To repeat: You are supposed to use the guide while you look at these--it's supposed to be something you take out to the woods with you, there's no such thing as cheating!

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#1:

Observation by kent_ozment, September 14th

[ID: A photo of a plant with large leaves with smooth edges and a bumpy texture. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#2:

Observation by nonbinary-naturalist September 21st

[ID: A photo taken at night with flash turned on, of a plant with deep green, smooth leaves. The stem is light brown, with a slightly pointed bud at the tip, and round buds at the base of each leaf. Some small white spots dot the leaves in a few spots. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#3:

Observation by elacroix-carignan, June 25th

[ID: A photo of a cluster of three fruits on a tree. The fruits are green with reddish-tinted edges, and small, with lumpy centers and pointed ends. The leaves are smooth. Part of the stem is grey with some moss on it, part is warm brown. Spanish moss hangs in the background. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#4:

Observation by nonbinary-naturalist, September 25th

[ID: A photo of a plant with a white hand held behind the stem. The stem is red-brown, the leaves are smooth, and have yellow veins in the center, which turns red when it connects to the stem in long sections. The buds at the base of each leaf are dark and pointy. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#5:

Observation by nonbinary-naturalist August 13th

[ID: A zoomed in photo of the stem of a plant. The stem is orange colored near the top, and the leaves are green, smooth, and have yellow veins in the center which turn yellow and orange when they connect to the stem in short sections. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#6:

Observation by nonbinary-naturalist, April 28th

[ID: A slightly blurry photo of a white hand holding up a large, wrinkly leaf on a small sapling. The leaf is very large, and has two smaller leaves at its base pointing to the sides. The ground in the background is covered with brown dead leaves and wild muscadine grape vines. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#7:

Observation by thorlovescake, August

[ID: A photo of a hand holding the tip of a leaf from a stem. The leaf is smaller than the hand, green, smooth, and shaped like an oval. Several more leaves hang down near it, emerging from the tip of the brown stem, which has a rounded, dark bud at the top. Some small black spots are scattered on the leaves. Where the leaves connect to the stem, they are round and pale yellow. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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#8:

Observation by onondagaearthcorps, October 10th

[ID: A photo of a large plant with its leaves all pointing towards the ground, and changing from green to yellow with the fall. The leaves are wrinkly, serrated, and are in groups of five at the end of a long section attaching it to the stem. End ID.]

A: Common pawpaw B: Small-flower pawpaw C: Hickory D: Persimmon E: Other

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