Shagbark hickory trees grow to be sixty to eighty feet tall. The bark on mature trees curls away from the trunks and gives them a shaggy appearance.

The tough wood was valued for making farm implements and furniture.

The wood gives a special flavor to meat when it is used in the smoking process. The nuts are sweet and eaten by squirrels and humans.

The leaves are alternate and compound and have five or seven leaflets. They are smallest at the base and quite broad at the end.