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  • Shagbark
  • Leila Philip (bio)

Thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight

—Wisdom 11:20

Name
Shagbark hickory
Juglandaceae Carya
symbol
CAOV2

Leaf
alternate pinnately
compound, 8–14 inches
with 5 sometimes 7 leaflets
lateral leaflets
are obovate
to lanceolate
terminal leaflets [End Page 92]

are much larger than
the laterals, margins
serrate and ciliate,
rachis stout and mostly
glabrous, green
above,
paler below

Flower
monoecious; male flowers are
yellow-green catkins
hanging in 3’s, 2 to 3 inches long;
females are
very short
in clusters
at the end of branches,
both appear
in spring.

Fruit
nearly round, 1 1/2 to 2 inches,
with a very thick husk;
nut is
distinctly
4-ribbed, and the seed is sweet and delicious;
maturing
in fall.

Twig
stout and
usually tomentose,
but may be somewhat
pubescent [End Page 93]

near terminal bud,
numerous lighter lenticels;
leaf scars raised,
3-lobed to semicircular –
(best described as a “monkey face”);
terminal bud is large,
brown, and pubescent,
covered with 3 to 4
brown scales,
more elongated than
other hickories.

Bark
At first, smooth
and gray,
later
broken into long, wide plates
attached at the middle, curving
away from the trunk resulting in
a coarsely shaggy appearance.

Form
A tall tree
reaching
over 120 feet, with
a straight trunk
and an open
round to oblong
crown.

Notes for the casual observer: looks like Shellbark hickory, Red hickory, Mockernut hickory, Pignut hickory. For more information see Virginia Tech Tree ID. [End Page 94]

Leila Philip

Leila Philip is the author of three books of nonfiction, including her most recent work, the award-winning memoir, A Family Place: A Hudson Valley Farm, Three Centuries, Five Wars, One Family (Viking 2001, Penguin 2002, SUNY Excelsior Edition, 2009). She has received numerous awards for her writing, including the Pen Martha Albrand Citation for Nonfiction and fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The Radcliffe Research and Study Center, and the Guggenheim Foundation. She loves exploring the boundaries of the lyric essay and walking the woods with her dog. She teaches creative writing at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, where she is an Associate Professor in the English Department. When not writing or teaching, she’s usually pruning apple trees at her family’s apple orchard in the Hudson Valley.

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