// SPECIES PROFILE · TREE · NATIVE

Shagbark Hickory

Carya ovata

Recognizable from a quarter-mile away by its dramatic foot-long strips of curling, peeling grey bark, shagbark is the most architectural hickory of the eastern Oklahoma forest — and produces the sweetest of all native hickory nuts.

// QUICK FACTS

Family: Juglandaceae
Group: tree
Native range: E. US incl. eastern OK uplands and Ozark slopes
USDA hardiness: Zones 4–8
Mature size: 70–90 ft
Sun: Full sun
Water: Deep moist loam; deep taproot
Wildlife value: Premium mast for squirrel, turkey, deer; luna moth, hickory horndevil host
Ecological role: unmistakable peeling bark · sweet nuts · climax forest

Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) — *Carya ovata*. Photo via Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons.

Field Notes

[ growing · ecology · siting · care ]

Slow to start (10+ yrs to first nut crop) but exceptionally long-lived and storm-resistant. Wood is the standard for tool handles, smoking bacon, and traditional bows.

Why it's on this list: unmistakable peeling bark · sweet nuts · climax forest. Part of Rooted Revival's NE Oklahoma plant catalog — natives, ecologically positive non-invasive cultivars, and food crops worth growing in the Tulsa region.

Companion Planting

[ guild · polyculture · cross-layer pairings ]

In a Cross Timbers oak-hickory savanna, shagbark hickory pairs naturally with: chickasaw plum (Prunus angustifolia), crossvine (Bignonia capreolata), american alumroot (Heuchera americana), inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), chinkapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii), and fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica).

shagbark hickory works best as a canopy or sub-canopy partner above the herbaceous and shrub layers.

Shagbark Hickory

Field Notes

Companion Planting

Photo Reference