The pecan was adopted as Alabama’s state nut in 1982. I’ve never learned the story behind its adoption. However, it was probably adopted because of its commercial importance in Alabama.
Texans adopted the pecan as their state tree way back in 1919. Perhaps they favored the pecan because Governor James Hogg requested that a pecan be planted by his grave site. Pecans make attractive shade trees. Their wood is used to make furniture, floors, and paneling. Of course, pecans are also popular because their nuts taste so good.
Pecan Nuts
Pecan nuts are long and pointed and have thin shells. They’re cultivated throughout the South. Pecans are used in many traditional Southern recipes, such as pralines and pecan pie. They?re an excellent source of vitamin B-6.
Native Americans ate pecans long before Christopher Columbus discovered America. Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca was the first to write about pecans. He was a captive of the Indians from 1529 to 1535. De Vaca noted that great numbers of Indians camped in river valleys during the fall pecan harvest. He claimed that pecans were their major food source for about four months of the year.
In the late 1800s, pecan production became more commercialized. Today, there are a number of domestic varieties, with names like Wichita, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. Texas is second only to Georgia as a producer of such hybrid, orchard-grown varieties.
A Texas-Sized Symbol
Related to hickories, pecan trees are usually seventy to one hundred feet tall. However, then can surpass one hundred fifty feet, with trunks more than three feet in diameter. According to Texas Best, the oldest pecan tree is owned by Maibrey Oglesby in Weatherford, Texas. It is reportedly 230 inches in circumference and over forty feet tall (or is that supposed to read 140 feet?).
The pecan’s native range extends from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi up the Mississippi Valley to Indiana and Illinois. Native pecans commonly grow along most of Texas’ nine major rivers, twenty minor rivers and large streams, and irrigation canals. It has been estimated that about 30,000,000 native pecans cover over 600,000 acres in Texas. It’s no wonder Texas leads the nation in native pecan production!
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism - Paperback
