Carya ovata Seeds | Shagbark Hickory

Shagbark hickory trunk with long peeling bark plates and a crown of pinnate leaves — Shagbark Hickory (*Carya ovata*): Juglandaceae, the tough-wooded nut hickory of eastern North American forests.

LATIN NAME: Carya ovata

COMMON NAME: Shagbark Hickory

Plant Profile

Shagbark hickory is named for its bark, and the name is not an exaggeration. From about twenty years old the trunk begins to shed long, vertical strips that stay attached at the middle, so the tree looks as though it is wearing loose shingles. Underneath, the new bark is smooth and pale, and the effect in winter, with the strips hanging free and rattling in wind, is unlike any other hardwood.

The tree grows fifteen to twenty-five metres, sometimes more, with a straight trunk and a narrow, oblong crown carried high. Leaves are pinnate, with five leaflets, the terminal three much larger than the lower pair; they turn a clear gold in October. The nuts are the largest of the native hickories after the pecan, with a thick, four-valved husk that splits open in autumn to release a pale, sweet kernel.

Science & Biotechnology

Hickories sit in the walnut family and share its chemistry, including juglone in the roots and husks, though in lower concentration than black walnut, which is why the ground under a hickory is less hostile to other plants than the ground under a walnut. The wood is the hardest and toughest of the North American hardwoods by most measures, with exceptional shock resistance, and it was the standard material for axe handles, ladder rungs and wagon poles before synthetic substitutes.

The species is also unusual in its pollination biology: hickories are wind-pollinated and largely self-incompatible, and good crops depend on two different trees flowering at once. Nut production is alternate, with a heavy year followed by a light one, a rhythm that governs the wildlife that depends on it. The thick husk is a defence against seed predators, and the kernels that survive it are rich enough to have been a significant autumn food for both people and bears.

Uses & Benefits

The nuts are excellent, richer and sweeter than a walnut, but the shell is thick and the kernel comes out in pieces, which is why they never became a commercial crop. They are worth collecting for eating, for pressing oil, or for feeding to pigs in the old Appalachian way.

The wood’s toughness made it the handle wood of choice for two centuries, and its dense grain also makes it the classic fuel for smoking ham and bacon; hickory smoke is a flavour in its own right. The bark itself is used to make a dark, maple-like syrup by reducing a bark infusion with sugar, a small industry that has grown up around the tree in recent decades. As a landscape tree it is slow and difficult to transplant, but a mature specimen is a fine, clean-limbed shade tree with good autumn colour.

Growing from Seed

Hickory nuts need a long, cold, moist stratification: three to four months at around four degrees, in damp sand, is the usual prescription. Sow in deep containers, because the radicle drives down fast and a shallow pot will be filled within weeks.

The taproot is the reason hickories are hard to move; seedlings should be started in their final position or in a deep tube and planted out in the first year. Squirrels will find and eat any nut sown in the open, so protect the sowing with mesh. Growth in the first two years is slow while the root system builds, then accelerates; the first nuts should not be expected before the tree is fifteen years old.

Our Take

Slow, tough and worth planting for the next generation; the finest smoking wood in North America. Choose the site once, because the taproot will not forgive a second move.

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