A member of the hickory family and closely related to the walnut, the pecan's original botanical name was Hicoria pecan but was changed to Caya illinoinensis in the late seventeenth century.
Fur traders brought the pecan to the Atlantic coast from Illinois, calling them "Illinois nuts", hence the latin classification of illinoinensis.
The term pecan comes from the Algonquin Indian word "pacane", meaning a nut that needs to be cracked with a stone.
The tree grows 30 m high and can become several hundred years old. It’s tough hard wood is very resistant to vibration and was used by the red skins for making tomahawks.
Later this wood was taken for the production of carriage wheels, skies and hockey rackets. Nowadays this wood is nearly exclusively used for paper production.
