Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata) — Plotwright

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Shagbark hickory

Habit (mature) · Famartin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Limited coverage

Shagbark hickory

Carya ovata

A native deciduous canopy tree of eastern North American forests with the most distinctive bark of any temperate tree — long curling shaggy plates that peel away from the trunk in vertical strips. Edible nuts (one of the few hickories with sweet kernels rather than bitter). Slow-growing + long-lived (200-300+ years). Among Tallamy's keystone genera — Carya hosts hundreds of Lepidoptera species.

Native: 36 US states + 2 CA provinces

Review: Source-backed

Climate fit: broad (76/100)

Focal point

Structure

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Mature size

720-1080" tall · 480" apart

Hardy in zones

4a-8b

very cold to frosty winters

Summer heat range

Cool-Hot

cool to hot summers Interim Plotwright tier until the plant AHS range is authored.

Native in Illinois

Yes

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A documented larval host for the Imperial moth and 2 other species — caterpillars feed on its foliage before becoming the next generation.

Wildlife relationships

Cold hardiness

Now

Zone 6b

USDA

Chicago, IL · 1991-2020 average annual coldest day

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (1991-2020 climatology) via ArcGIS FeatureServer

Well-suited

2050

Zone 7b

Plotwright

Your zone + climate-model shift · SSP3-7.0 (regional rivalry)

Well-suited

In plain terms: cold winters — coldest nights typically around -3°F.

✓

Well-suited today and still thriving in 2050.

Heat tolerance

°C

°F

Loading current AHS heat-zone and plant heat-fit data at your coordinates…

Where this plant fits

Suitable across 40 ecoregions — 35 climate-resilient through 2070 · 5 suited today. Best matches first.

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

Arizona Mountains forests

Blue Mountains forests

Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Central Tallgrass prairie

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

Colorado Rockies forests

Cross-Timbers savanna-woodland

Appears in collections

+4

Collection · 8 plants

Food-forest layered edible

A vertically stacked edible polyculture: nut-bearing canopy, fruit-bearing understory, berry shrub layer, herbaceous + groundcover layers. Models a temperate-climate forest-garden palette for eastern North America.

Shagbark hickory

Pawpaw

Canadian serviceberry

Highbush blueberry

Allegheny blackberry

Chives

Parsley

Wild strawberry

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Shagbark hickory (Carya ovata). Retrieved 2026, June 5, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/shagbark-hickory

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited — 18 source-backed.

NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

University extension service

Backs 17 fields

Identity

Summary

Plant type

Light

Moisture

Hardiness

Heat zone

Size

Spacing

Habit

Design roles

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Lifecycle

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Wikimedia Commons

Photo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Backs 1 field

Image

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The photos above are our reviewed reference set, curated for accuracy.

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