''Carya laciniosa'', the shellbark hickory, in the

Juglandaceae The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia. The nine or ten genera in the family have ...

or walnut family is also called kingnut, big, bottom, thick, or western shellbark, attesting to some of its characteristics. It is a slow-growing, long-lived tree, hard to transplant because of its long taproot, and subject to insect damage. The nuts, largest of all hickory nuts, are sweet and edible. Wildlife and people harvest most of them; those remaining produce seedling trees readily. The wood is hard, heavy, strong, and very flexible, making it a favored wood for tool handles. A specimen tree has been reported in Missouri with

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

, tall, and a spread of .

Description

Sapling and pole stages to maturity

Growth and yield: The hickories as a group grow slowly in diameter, and shellbark hickory is no exception. Sapling size trees average per year in diameter growth, increasing to per year as poles and sawtimber. Second-growth trees show growth rates of per year. Shellbark hickory occasionally grows to a height of and a diameter of . Rooting habit: Shellbark hickory develops a large taproot that penetrates deeply into the soil. Lateral roots emerge at nearly right angles to the taproot, spreading horizontally through the soil. Major distinct lateral roots usually develop 12 inches or more below ground level and appear only after taproot is well formed. In Illinois, root growth was rapid in April, slowed during July and August, increased again in September, and ended in late November. Mycorrhizal associations are formed when trees are young. The only specific fungus identified from shellbark hickory roots is an ectotrophic mycorrhiza,'' Laccaria ochropurpurea''. Reaction to competition: Shellbark hickory is very shade-tolerant, exceeded only by

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the ...

(''Acer saccharum'') and

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

(''Fagus grandifolia''). It grows slowly under a dense canopy, however. In stands with only partial shade, it reproduces well. It is a very strong competitor in most of the species associations in which it is found. Under forest conditions, shellbark hickory often develops a clear bole for half its length and has a narrow, oblong crown. Open-grown trees have egg-shaped crowns. Heavy release sometimes results in epicormic branching. On mature trees, the bark peels away from the trunk in long, sometimes broad, strips. This gives the trees a “shaggy” appearance that is easily confused with that of the Shagbark hickory (''

Carya ovata ''Carya ovata'', the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory native to eastern North America, with two Variety (botany), varieties. The trees can grow to quite a large size but are unreliable in their fruit output. The nut is consumed by wildlife a ...

''). That close similarity is the reason Shellbark hickories are frequently misidentified. A closer examination of other traits is usually needed to distinguish the two species. Damaging agents: Although numerous insects and diseases affect hickories, shellbark hickory has no enemies that seriously threaten its development or perpetuation as a species. Seed production can be reduced significantly, however, through attack by several insects. Two of the most important are the pecan weevil ('' Curculio caryae'') and the hickory shuckworm ('' Laspeyresia caryana''). The hickory bark beetle (''

Scolytus quadrispinosus ''Scolytus quadrispinosus'', the hickory bark beetle, is a species of typical bark beetle in the family Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal ...

'') feeds in the cambium and seriously weakens or even kills some trees. Adults of the hickory spiral borer ('' Agrilus arcuatus torquatus'') feed on leaves, but the larvae feed beneath the bark and can be very destructive to hickory seedlings. The flatheaded appletree borer ('' Chrysobothris femorata'') likewise is a foliage-feeder as an adult, but its larvae feed on the phloem and outer sapwood. The living-hickory borer ('' Goes pulcher'') feeds in the trunks and branches of trees. A twig girdler (''

Oncideres cingulata ''Oncideres cingulata'', the twig girdler, is a brownish-gray beetle, typically in length, in the longhorn beetle family. It is characterized by long antennae, long. Distribution The species is found in Eastern and Gulf Coast of the United Sta ...

'') can seriously affect reproduction by killing back the tops of seedlings and sprouts. Both standing dead trees and freshly cut logs are highly susceptible to attacks by numerous species of wood borers. A large number of insect species feed on hickory foliage. None of them causes serious problems for shellbark hickory, although they may be responsible for some stem deformity and growth loss. Shellbark hickory is free of serious diseases, but it is a host species for a variety of fungi. More than 130 fungi have been identified from species of ''Carya''. These include leaf disease, stem canker, wood rot, and root rot-causing fungi. Specific information for shellbark hickory is not available. Shellbark hickory is susceptible to bole injury from fire, and fire injuries are often invaded by wood rot fungi. It is resistant to snow and ice damage, but is susceptible to frost damage.

Distribution and habitat

Shellbark hickory is widely distributed, but is common nowhere. The range extends from western New York through southern Michigan to southeast Iowa, south through eastern Kansas into northern Oklahoma, and eastward through Tennessee into Pennsylvania. This species is most prominent in the lower Ohio River region and south along the Mississippi River to central Arkansas. It is frequently found in the great river swamps of central Missouri and the Wabash River region in Indiana and Ohio. It's also found scattered in the Hudson valley in New York state In part due to the activities of humans, shellbark hickory has become rare in its natural range. The heavy seeds do not travel far from the parent tree and many stands have been lost to forest clearing and lumber harvesting. It is also not planted much as an ornamental due to its slow growth and difficulty of transplanting.

Climate

The mean length of the frost-free period within the range of shellbark hickory is from 150 to 210 days. The average January temperature is between , and for July the mean temperature is from . An average minimum temperature of occurs in the northern part of the range, and an average maximum temperature of is found throughout the range. Precipitation varies between per year including of snow.

Soils and topography

Shellbark hickory grows best on deep, fertile, moist soils, most typical of the order Alfisols. It does not thrive in heavy clay soils, but grows well on heavy loams or silt loams. Shellbark hickory requires moister situations than do pignut, mockernut, or shagbark hickories (''Carya glabra, C. alba,'' or ''C. ovata''), although it is sometimes found on dry, sandy soils. Specific nutrient requirements are not known, but generally the hickories grow best on neutral or slightly alkaline soils. The species is essentially a bottomland species and is often found on river terraces and second bottoms. Land subject to shallow inundations for a few weeks early in the growing season is favorable for shellbark. However, the tree will grow on a wide range of topographic and physiographic sites.

Associated forest cover

Shellbark hickory may be found in pure groups of several trees but is more frequent singly in association with other hardwoods. The species is a minor component of the forest cover types

bur oak ''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub ...

(Society of American Foresters type 42), pin oak–sweetgum (type 65), and swamp chestnut oak–cherrybark oak (type 91). It may also be found in one or more of the types in which hickories are included, but it is not identified at the species level. Shellbark hickory commonly grows in association with

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America. The trees can live for several hundred years. It is a very hardy species that can ...

(''Ulmus americana''),

slippery Slipperiness is when a surface has a low coefficient of friction, allowing objects to glide across the surface. People walking on slippery surfaces are likely to slip or fall. A surface can for example be slippery due to it being wet, or due to ...

(''U. rubra''), and winged elms (''U. alata''),

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

(''Fraxinus americana'') and

green ash Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

(''F. pennsylvanica''),

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

(''Tilia americana''),

American hornbeam ''Carpinus caroliniana'', the American hornbeam, is a small hardwood understory tree in the genus ''Carpinus''. American hornbeam is also known as blue-beech, ironwood, musclewood and muscle beech. It is native to eastern North America, from Mi ...

(''Carpinus caroliniana''),

red maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nati ...

(''Acer rubrum''), blackgum (''Nyssa sylvatica''),

sweetgum ''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum (star gum in the UK), gum, redgum, satin-walnut, styrax or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated as a part of ...

(''Liquidambar styraciflua''), and cottonwood (''Populus deltoides''). It is found in association with four other hickories– shagbark, mockernut, bitternut (''Carya cordiformis''), and

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

(''C. aquatica''), and numerous oak species, including swamp white (''Quercus bicolor''),

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

(''Q. palustris''),

(''Q. alba''), Shumard (''Q. shumardii''),

(''Q. nigra''), Delta post (''Q. stellata'' var. ''paludosa''), swamp chestnut (''Q. michauxii''), and Nuttall (''Q. nuttallii''). The herbaceous stratum includes numerous sedges and grasses. The shrub and small tree layer may be composed of painted buckeye (''

Aesculus sylvatica ''Aesculus sylvatica'', the painted buckeye, is a species of shrub. The species has five leaflet (botany), leaflets that are long and wide. The flowers are yellow and occasionally have red also. The species have Capsule (fruit), dry fruit and b ...

''), pawpaw (''

Asimina triloba ''Asimina triloba'', the American papaw, pawpaw, paw paw, or paw-paw, among many regional names, is a small deciduous tree native to the eastern United States and southern Ontario, Canada, producing a large, yellowish-green to brown fruit. ''As ...

''), flowering dogwood (''

Cornus florida ''Cornus florida'', the flowering dogwood, is a species of flowering plant, flowering tree in the family Cornaceae native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. An endemic population once spanned from southernmost coastal Maine south to n ...

''), eastern redbud (''

Cercis canadensis ''Cercis canadensis'', the eastern redbud, is a large deciduous shrub or small tree, native to eastern North America from southern Michigan south to central Mexico, west to New Mexico. Species thrive as far west as California and as far north as ...

''), possumhaw ('' Ilex decidua''), poison ivy (''

Toxicodendron radicans ''Toxicodendron radicans'', commonly known as eastern poison ivy or poison ivy, is a species of allergenic flowering plant. It has numerous subtaxons and forms both vines and shrubs. Despite its common name, it is not a true ivy, but rather a m ...

''), and trumpet-creeper (''

Campsis radicans ''Campsis radicans'', the trumpet vine, yellow trumpet vine, or trumpet creeper (also known in North America as cow-itch vine or hummingbird vine), is a species of flowering plant in the trumpet vine family Bignoniaceae, native to eastern North ...

'').

Uses

The seeds within shellbark hickory nuts are edible and consumed by ducks, quail, wild turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, deer, foxes, raccoons, and white-footed mice. A few plantations of shellbark hickory have been established for nut production, but the nuts are difficult to crack, though the kernel is sweet. The wood is used for furniture, tool handles, sporting goods, veneer, fuelwood, charcoal, and drum sticks.

Genetics

Shellbark hickory hybridizes with the

pecan The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia ( ...

, ''Carya illinoensis'' (''C.'' x ''nussbaumeri'' Sarg.), and shagbark hickory,'' C. ovata'' (''C.'' x'' dunbarii'' Sarg.). Shellbark hickory has 32 chromosomes. In general, species within the genus with the same chromosome number are able to cross. Numerous hybrids among the'' Carya'' species with 32 chromosomes (pecan, bitternut, shellbark, and shagbark) have been described.

Gallery

File:Carya laciniosa (Shellbark Hickory) (33978812346).jpg, Bud File:Carya laciniosa female flower.jpg, Female flowers File:Carya laciniosa (Shellbark Hickory) (34355481560).jpg, Catkins of male flowers File:Carya laciniosa (Shellbark Hickory) (34414586576).jpg, Bud break File:Carya laciniosa leaf.jpg, Terminal leaflet

References

External links

''Carya laciniosa'' images at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University Plant Image Database
*Damery, Jonathan
"Cracking a shellbark case."
''Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University'' website, 30 October 2018. Accessed 21 May 2020. {{Taxonbar, from=Q4215101 laciniosa Edible nuts and seeds Trees of humid continental climate Trees of Northern America