Carya ovata
Leaves are alternate, compound with five to nine leaflets.
The shagbark is
the most common of the hickories and is an important timber tree with a narrow, open crown. It is
found over the eastern United States and is quite general from bottomlands and moist slopes to the
drier slopes and ridge tops.
The pinnately
compound leaves are 8 to 16 inches long with five to seven dark yellow-green, broad oval leaflets
with finely toothed margins.
The fruit is a brownish nut wit a thick shell and a sweet kernel, enclosed in a thick, splitting husk.
The twigs are smooth, or clothed with short hairs. The gray and very shaggy bark separates into long, narrow, hard, tough, loose scales, lightly attached to the tree.
This tree gets its name from the way the long, flat plates of bark break free on either end and
curl away from the trunk, giving the typical shaggy appearance. Shagbark hickory has a compound
leaf make up of five leaflets. The hard, bony-white nut, containing sweet, delicious nutmeat, is
enclosed in a four-sectioned green husk.
No
other hardwood has the combination of strength, elasticity, and toughness of hickory. The wood is
used extensively for tool handles,athletic equipment, and for smoking meat. It makes the best
firewood since it has the highest heat value of any wood.
