SHAGBARK HICKORY
Carya ovata (Mill.) K. Koch
Growth Form: Medium to large tree up to 80 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 3½ feet; crown rounded, with some of the branches often hanging.
Bark: Gray, separating into long, shreddy scales giving the trunk a shaggy appearance.
Twigs: Stout, reddish-brown to gray, smooth or somewhat hairy; leaf scars alternate, 3-lobed, not elevated, with several bundle traces.
Buds: Ovoid, rounded or short-pointed at the tip, up to 1 inch long, hairy, the scales conspicuously yellow-green or reddish as they unfold in the spring.
Leaves: Alternate, pinnately compound, with 5-7 leaflets; leaflets ovate, obovate, or less commonly lance-shaped, usually short-pointed at the tip, tapering to the base, up to 10 inches long, up to 5 inches wide, finely toothed along the edges, with the tip of each tooth with a minute tuft of hairs, green or yellow-green and smooth on the upper surface, paler and smooth or somewhat hairy on the lower surface.
Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing after the leaves have begun to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate crowded in slender, drooping catkins, the pistillate in groups of 2-5.
Fruit: Spherical or occasionally punching-bag shaped, up to 2 inches across, the husk yellow-green to reddish-brown, up to ½ inch thick, splitting all the way to the base, the nut 4-angled, nearly white, the seed sweet.
Wood: Heavy, hard, light brown, close-grained.