any of several North American trees belonging to the genus Carya, of the walnut family, certain species of which bear edible nuts or yield a valuable wood. Compare pecan, shagbark.
the plant family Juglandaceae, characterized by deciduous trees having alternate, pinnately compound leaves, male flowers in tassellike catkins and female flowers in clusters, and edible nuts enclosed in a thick-walled or leathery husk, and including the butternut, hickory, pecan, and walnut.
