Shagbark Hickory

Carya ovata

Juglandacaeace (Walnut Family)

▲ bark

▲▼  leaves

▲▼  leaves

▲▼  fruit

▲▼  fruit

▲ fruit (unusual double-fruited husk)

▲ fruit (nut)

▲▼ twigs and bud

▲▼ fall color

▲▼ fall color

Location on campus:  near junction of Normal and Kings streets, in lawn area just west of Kings

Carya ovata: Shagbark Hickory

·         leaves alternate, deciduous, pinnately compound with 5-7 leaflets; leaflets 4-6" long and ½ as wide, oblong lanceolate with serrate and ciliate margins; dark green above and lighter green and glabrous below (pubescent when young); leaves often reliably turn a bright yellow in early autumn

·         twigs stout, reddish brown to light gray, downy or glabrous with many pale elongated lenticels

·         bark is gray and platelike with vertical ends of plates splitting from trunk to give “shagbark” appearance— very characteristic and interesting

·         grows 60-80' tall and 1/3 to ½ as round in upright oval growth habit— more broad in open areas

·         flowers green catkins; fruit is large (1.5-3" diameter) globose husk, which splits apart to reveal tan-brown, woody nut— much favored by wildife and edible for humans

·         prefers full sun to deep shade, moist, well-drained soils— often grows largest in well-drained slopes along river bottoms

·         forms very large, deep taproot when young (2-3' deep when seedling shoot may be 4-6" tall), so not widely available for landscape use, but interesting bark and fall color would recommend its wider use

·         slow to medium growth rate (faster once past seedling stage)

·         native to Missouri