Carya illinoinensis

The Pecan tree is in the walnut or Juglandaceae family and is native to the southcentral and southeastern areas of United States (the Mississippi Valley and tributaries), and to parts of Mexico. It can reach 40 m in height.

• Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, with 9–17 finely serrated, pointed leaflets 5–17 cm long.
• The species is monoecious. Male (staminate) flowers are in yellow-green hanging catkins typically in pairs of 3, up to 10 cm long; female (pistillate) flowers are small and yellowish-green, on short spikes.
• Fruit is a oblong edible nut (a drupe) up to 5 cm long, the brown, thin outer shell splotched with black, the nuts usually hanging in clusters. Pecan nuts are an important commercial nut crop.
• Twig is moderately stout, brown, fuzzy when young; leaf scars are large and 3-lobed; buds are yellowish brown to brown, hairy, with terminal buds 0.6–1.3 cm long.