SHAGBARK HICKORY; LITTLE SHELLBARK HICKORY (ho aria ovata, Britt.). 75 to 120 feet. Ruggedly gnarled, ob long head of short branches, on short, straight trunk, with pale bark that sheds in thin, vertical strips, giving a shaggy ap pearance. Wood tough, springy, hard, fit for axe handles, wheels, sled runners, splint chairs, farm implements and ve hicles. Best fuel. Buds large at tips of twigs, with two nar row, black scales outside of pale, silky inner ones, that lengthen greatly when the shoots start in spring. Leaves alternate, 12 to 20 inches long, of five leathery, pointed leaflets, basal pair small, on wiry petiole. Autumn color, brownish yellow.
Flowers with new leaves, May; staminate catkins profuse, 4 to 6 inches long, 3 on each stalk; pistillate solitary or few, ter minal, green, with forked stigmas. Fruit, a nut in smooth, leathery husk that splits when ripe, liberating the flattened, 4-angled nut. Kernel sweet. Dist.: Maine westward to Minnesota and Nebraska; south to Delaware, and along the mountains to Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Preferred habitat, rich, deep, moist soil. Ornamental and shade tree of high rank. Best native nut tree.