Pecan Tree

The funniest thing about this type of tree was that I first picked a pecan out of what I thought was a Persimmon. The pecan branch was sticking in with the Persimmon so what when I reached in to get a fruit, I got a nut* instead.
I couldn't even see the pecan tree the persimmon was so thick, so I was just sitting there trying to figure out what purpose it served to the persimmon. I could say I'm smart enough to not tell people about my silly ideas, but I thought that picture of utter confusing might prove amusing.

The Pecan is the state tree of Texas. Now what better reason could there be to know how to identify it?

This is the first tree I've tried to identify that has compound leaves. The leaves themselves are alternate, growing 12-20 inches long and having between 9-17 leaflets. The leaflets are between 2-5 inches long and 1-2.5 inches wide. The pecan always has one leaflet on the end of the rachis** and the rest grow in pairs, so it will always have an odd number of leaflets. The leaflets are lightly toothed (almost like the edge of a ripped newspaper), and shaped like a spear head with the tips being slightly curved.

Pecans are large trees, generally between 60-130 feet tall, and this one was doing it's best towering over most of the other trees in the area.

In the Spring they get "catkins" which are the flowers and look like green dreadlocks - they are up to 7 inches long. Later they get the nuts which have a thick protective case around them. They are egg shaped with four ridges running vertically, they start out green but turn brown. When the nut is ripe for eating the case with peel back into quarters and you can pluck the pecan out.

The bark is crinkly, wrinkly, and ridged but not very deeply. It's a grey-brown, but other than that I really don't know how to describe it.

*Factoid! Pecans are part of the Hickory family are do not have true nuts. They are actually similar to peaches and plums, aka: drupes.
**I had to look that one up, it's the main stem of the compound leaf. All the leaflets branch off this main stem.