shagbark hickory

Carya ovata · Juglandaceae · all Carya records · Wikipedia

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Shagbark hickory is rated fire resistant, supported by five extension and Firewise assessments.

The USDA Forest Service and state Firewise programs gave it their most favorable Firewise rating on a four-point scale. North Carolina extension sources rated it low flammability in 2005 and again in 2025. Ohio State University Extension assigned the L band on its five-point scale, one step above VL, while Virginia Cooperative Extension and Virginia Tech gave it the low category on their three-point scale. Though the scales differ, each rating supports its use as a fire-resistant choice.

The FLAMITS database also reports a flame height of 69 centimeters for shagbark hickory litter. Flame height describes one aspect of burning, but the database does not set a common threshold for turning measurements from different plant parts, devices, and variables into recommendations. The 69-centimeter figure therefore adds detail without changing the extension assessments.

Shagbark hickory is a tree in the walnut family, reaching about 50 feet at maturity. It is native in the Southeastern, Northeastern, North-Central, and South-Central United States and is hardy to USDA zone 5a. Its shaggy, peeling bark is noted by several sources, but they do not identify that bark as the reason for their ratings. The supported conclusion is simply that several authorities place shagbark hickory on the fire-resistant side.

Form: tree
Mature height: ~50 ft
Light: Full sun
Water need: moderate
Rated in: Global; NC; North Carolina; Ohio / Midwest +2

On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: Global; NC; North Carolina; Ohio / Midwest; Virginia / Mid-Atlantic; eastern US
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 3 scopes across 3 cited fire sources

Fire-Resistant Landscaping in North Carolina (AG-874) · Official scoped edition
- NC; complete normalized coverage · 2025-03-26
  The complete three-table AG-874 plant list is explicitly for North Carolina and contains 202 low-, medium-, or high-flammability rows. FireApproved accounts for all source rows under its strict taxonomy and lineage rules; source scope does not establish local suitability at a particular North Carolina site.
Firewise Landscaping (OSU Extension Bulletin 921) · Official scoped edition
- OH; partial normalized coverage · 2006-03-01
  Ohio State University Extension Bulletin 921 is an Ohio publication that describes Ohio fire seasons and landscape conditions and labels nativity to Ohio. FireApproved publishes 352 exact source-owning plant records from its eight rated tables. This historical publication scope does not assert current extension endorsement or that a listed plant suits every Ohio site.
Virginia Firescapes — Firewise Landscaping for Woodland Homes (430-300) · Official scoped edition
- VA; partial normalized coverage · 2009-04-15
  Virginia Cooperative Extension's publication opens with Virginia wildfire conditions, identifies its Virginia Firewise Landscaping Task Force, and labels plants native to Virginia. FireApproved publishes 306 exact source owners. Publication scope does not establish parcel suitability or current endorsement of this archived 2009 list.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Native range: Current cited native range in AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV.
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness: Documented minimum 3a; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

35

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

35 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04

Alabama (AL)
Arkansas (AR)
Connecticut (CT)
District of Columbia (DC)
Delaware (DE)
Georgia (GA)
Iowa (IA)
Illinois (IL)
Indiana (IN)
Kansas (KS)
Kentucky (KY)
Louisiana (LA)
Massachusetts (MA)
Maryland (MD)
Maine (ME)
Michigan (MI)
Minnesota (MN)
Missouri (MO)
Mississippi (MS)
North Carolina (NC)
Nebraska (NE)
New Hampshire (NH)
New Jersey (NJ)
New York (NY)
Ohio (OH)
Oklahoma (OK)
Pennsylvania (PA)
Rhode I. (RI)
South Carolina (SC)
Tennessee (TN)
Texas (TX)
Virginia (VA)
Vermont (VT)
Wisconsin (WI)
West Virginia (WV)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector · record carya-ovata · 2016-wayback · as of 2026-08-26

Source prints 5 · single-value meaning unresolved · whole zone precision · source stated

Source taxon: Carya ovata · exact match.

Source location: Cold Hardiness Zone field in the recovered selector record.

Not used for comparison: The recovered selector prints one Cold Hardiness Zone value but does not define it as a minimum threshold or a one-zone range.
USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record CAOV2 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 3a · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -40°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Carya ovata · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 70622, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

Eastern United States Fire Performance Plant Selector: Landscape Zone 3 — 10–30 ft from the structure; thin vegetation, remove debris, and minimize plant massing [Fire Performance Plant Selector landscape zone] (with its recommendation)

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Listed without a rating (4)

Corroboration (4 rows from 1 source)

FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

4 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.
- Primary study Kreye2023: Kreye, J. K., Kane, J. M., & Varner, J. M. (2023). Multivariate roles of litter traits on moisture and flammability of temperate northeastern North American tree species. Fire Ecology, 19, 1-12.
  
  Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel live; predrying no; device burning bench; site Kreye2023-1; sampling ND.
  - “flame height (cm): 69”
    
    FLAMITS record 18728; Combustibility measurement.
  - “time to flaming (s): 46”
    
    FLAMITS record 18729; Ignitability measurement.
  - “smouldering duration (s): 114”
    
    FLAMITS record 18730; Sustainability measurement.
  - “burnt biomass (%): 89”
    
    FLAMITS record 18731; Consumability measurement.

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

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Carya ovata (Shagbark hickory). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/carya-ovata/. Last verified 2026-08-23.