Shellbark Hickory

I saw one at the University of Illinois in the 1970's in a park with a grove of oak and hickory trees, It resembles the more common Shagb...Read Moreark Hickory but has bigger compound leaves of 15 to 22 inches long and usually has 7 leaflets, though 5 to 9 are possible, and are soft hairy below.

One of our most beautiful large native shade trees, and one of the few in whose shade a garden or lawn can flourish. Glowing golden fall ...Read Morecolor is early and long-lasting. I find the shaggy gray bark distinctively beautiful.

Endangered in New York and threatened in Maryland, this species is rare throughout most of its native range. It is in most respects very similar to shagbark hickory, Carya ovata. It tends to grow somewhat smaller.

Straight-trunked with an oval crown, commonly reaching 60-80', rarely to 120'. The wood is strong and valued commercially for many uses.

The nuts are tasty and sweet, if you can beat the squirrels to them. Thick-shelled like black walnuts, falling nuts have been known to dent cars, so plant these trees away from streets and parking areas. The nuts are valuable to birds and wildlife.

A tree of rich bottom lands, it tolerates shallow spring flooding. It does not prosper in heavy clay soils, but is otherwise adaptable to a variety of soils and exposures, and suitable for planting over a wide swathe of North America. Yet it's rarely planted, because it's relatively slow-growing, and because seedlings produce a taproot reaching down 2-3' before they get more than a few inches high. The taproot makes transplanting difficult, though 2-3' seedlings are available by mailorder.

It should be planted more often. Not for the impatient.

I know of nowhere where this tree might be weedy or invasive.

This is a beautiful tree who nuts were disseminated by Native Americans and then farmed once large enough for those same nuts. The nuts ...Read Moremade their way all the way over to Durham, NC where there is a disjunct population along New Hope Creek (most likely a leftover Native American hickory farm). The NC state champion is also located among that grove of trees...with an amazing trunk diameter of 3 feet!