Use The wood from the water hickory is often difficult to work and it is dimensionally unstable. It is occasionally used locally for fuel and posts. It has stout, spreading limbs which form a full, rounded crown. The trunk is often butressed at the base and the root system is deep and widespread. Leaves Leaves are pinnately compound, alternate, and deciduous.
Leaflet bases are wedge-shaped or rounded.
Leaflet margins finely serrate. Leaflet surfaces are bright green and glabrous above, paler below and smooth or with some pubescence along the midrib and lateral veins. The rachis are slender and hairy. The flowers of this tree are unisexual and monoecious. The seed is deeply grooved.