| General Description | Shellbark Hickory has exfoliating, shaggy-looking bark, growing tall with high branches. This species has the largest nut of all the hickories. The nut is edible and sweet to the taste. It has dark green to yellow serrated leaves. Unlike its close relative, Carya ovata (shagbark hickory), it does not have hairs on the tips of its leaf`s teeth. |
| ID Characteristic | The Shellbark has seven leaflets that are pinnately compound and are 10 - 24 cm long. All hickories, including the Shellbark have long tap roots. Most Shellbarks do not produce nuts until they are forty years old. Significant nut production begins at seventy-five years. The Shellbark closely resembles the Shagbark hickory - both having shaggy bark and compound leaves although the Shagbark usually has only five leaflets. |
| Shape | Shelbarks have a slender single trunk and a narrow oblong crown. |
| Landscape | The Shellbark hickory is planted in wetlands and bottomlands, as they like wet, loamy soils. They are often planted for lumber and their edible nuts. These trees are pest and salt tolerant. Mature trees drop large amounts of seeds in the autumn. Their leaves have a pinkish colour after new growth in the spring but becomes dark green in late spring and golden/yellow in autumn. |
| Propagation | The nuts are usually planted in late autumn to allow for cold-day stratification to aid germination, 90 - 120 days is the norm. The Shellbark begins producing fertile seeds at about forty years, but does not produce large quantities of seeds until seventy five years. There has been great success with grafting and budding. Tree nurseries (such as Grimo Nut Nursery) graft to northern pecan rootstock, resulting in higher survival rates and trees that produce nuts sooner. It is not known if Shellbark hickories produce roots from cuttings. |
| Cultivation | Shellbarks prefer to be in wet loamy soils. They can tolerate full sun to partial sun but prefer partial sun for young trees. |
| Pests | Shellbark is relatively pest-tolerant. All hickories species suffer damage from hickory shuckworm and pecan weevil. The weevil attacks the nuts, eating the nut kernel. Shellbarks are hosts to a variety of fungi that feed on leaves and create deformities. |
| Notable Specimens | The University of Guelph has a number of Shellbark hickories in their arboretum for a research project The University of Guelph Arboretum, Guelph, Ontario, Canada). |
| Habitat | The Shellbark hickory is a very hardy tree, tolerant of frost and cold temperatures. It thrives in wetlands and bottom lands throughout the north-eastern United States of America. |
| Bark/Stem Description | The bark is "shaggy” looking, long and exfoliating reddish-grey bark with long and platy narrow trunks. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Shellbark hickories have the largest terminal bud, next to the horse chestnut. |
| Leaf Description | The leaves are dark green with seven leaflets, compared to the Shagbark which has only five leaflets. Leaves are pinnate and alternate, compound, and usually 30 - 60 cm long. In autumn, leaves are a brilliant yellow/gold. |
| Flower Description | The flower colour is usually yellow or gold, appearing after the first leaves emerge in late May to June. |
| Fruit Description | The fruit has a green hull containing a light brown nut. The nuts are round and flattened, about 25 - 30 mm in diameter and 15 - 20 mm thick. |
| Colour Description | Shellbark leaves have a green to dark-green colour in spring and summer months. In autumn, they turn to a brilliant yellow and gold colour, depending on environmental factors such as pest control and soil composition |
| Texture Description | Medium. |