Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch, walnut family
Other names	Shellbark hickory, scalybark hickory, shagbark and upland hickory (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	Averages 21 to 24 m (70 to 80 ft) tall and 30 to 61 cm (12 to 24 in) in diameter; may reach 40 m (130 ft) and 122 cm (48 in)
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	64 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) says shagbark hickory is found throughout most of the Eastern United States, from southeastern Nebraska and southeastern Minnesota through southern Ontario and southern Quebec to southern Maine, and southward to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and eastern Texas, with a separate population in the mountains of northeastern Mexico. It records the tree as largely absent from the southeastern and Gulf coastal plains and the lower Mississippi Delta. The handbook calls it one of the hardiest hickories, adapted to a wide range of climates, and says that together with pignut hickory it furnishes the bulk of commercial hickory. It also calls it probably the most distinctive of the hickories because of its loose-plated bark.

Size, nuts and roots

Silvics describes a medium-sized tree that characteristically develops a clear, straight, cylindrical trunk, with a tendency for the main stem to fork at one-half to two-thirds of the tree height. It calls shagbark one of the fastest-growing hickories but slower than most oaks and other associated species in upland stands, and says hickory normally makes up a small percentage of the stocking in upland hardwood stands.

The handbook says the tree is monoecious and flowers in spring, with male catkins 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) long. It reaches commercial seed-bearing age at 40 years, with maximum production from 60 to 200 years and some seed up to 300 years, and good crops come at intervals of 1 to 3 years. Some trees have produced 53 to 70 liters (1.5 to 2 bushels) of nuts in a good year. Insects it names as especially serious for seed production are the hickory shuckworm, the pecan weevil and the hickorynut curculios. On roots, it says seedlings typically develop a large, deep taproot with few laterals that may reach 0.6 to 0.9 m (2 to 3 ft) in the first 3 years, and that the tree is rated windfirm on most sites. Silvics notes that the bark texture and open irregular branching make it a good specimen tree for naturalistic landscapes on large sites, though it is not planted as an ornamental to any great extent.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) names shagbark with pignut, shellbark and mockernut as the true hickories most important commercially. It says the sapwood of the true hickories is white and usually quite wide, except in old slow-growing trees, and the heartwood is reddish. The wood is exceptionally tough, heavy, hard and strong, and shrinks considerably in drying. The major use of high-quality hickory is for tool handles and other products needing high shock resistance, and it is also used for ladder rungs, athletic goods, agricultural implements, dowels and poles. Lower-grade hickory is used for pallets and similar items, and the handbook says some solid wood and sawdust are used to flavor smoked meats.

Wood Handbook figure	Green	At 12% moisture content
Specific gravity (Table 5-3b)	0.64	0.72
Modulus of rupture, lbf per square inch (Table 5-3b)	11,000	20,200
Side hardness, lbf (Table 5-3b)	1,460	1,880
Moisture content of green wood (Table 4-1)	Not published for shagbark	Not applicable

The green weight of the wood is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests and diseases the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says hickories are affected by at least 133 known fungi and 10 other diseases, most of the fungi saprophytes, and that at least 180 species of insects and mites are reported to infest hickory trees and wood products but few cause serious damage.

Fire. The handbook says shagbark is susceptible to fire damage at all ages. Hotter fires may kill larger trees and wound others, which it says makes them subject to butt rot.
Canker rot. Poria spiculosa, which Silvics calls probably the most widespread and serious disease of the true hickories. Cankers form around dead branch stubs and the wood-rotting fungus can eventually spread throughout the heartwood.
Other diseases. Anthracnose (Gnomonia caryae), mildew (Microstroma juglandis), bunch disease (a virus) with witches' brooms, crown gall (Agrobacterium tumefaciens) and gall-forming Phomopsis species that make warty growths from small twig galls to large trunk burls.
Hickory bark beetle. Scolytus quadrispinosus, called the most important insect enemy of hickory and other hardwoods in the Eastern United States. The handbook says outbreaks often develop in the Southeast in drought periods and that the foliage of infested trees turns red within a few weeks after attack.
Twig insects and birds. The twig girdler and the twig pruner, which can severely prune heavily infested shade and park trees, and sapsuckers, whose holes in the bark discolor the wood and lead to rejection of a considerable amount of hickory lumber.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States gives the office that takes sightings of regulated pests, and pests and diseases by country sets out which ones agencies regulate. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.