[citation needed] Mature shagbarks are easy to recognize because, as their name implies, they have shaggy bark.

Staminate flowers are borne on long-stalked catkins at the tip of old wood or in the axils of the previous season's leaves.

[6] The fruit is a drupe 2.5 to 4 cm (1 to 1+1⁄2 in) long, an edible nut with a hard, bony shell, contained in a thick, green four-sectioned husk which turns dark and splits off at maturity in the fall.

The two varieties are: Some sources regard southern shagbark hickory as the separate species Carya carolinae-septentrionalis.

[8] Shagbark hickory is found throughout most of the eastern United States, but it is largely absent from the southeastern and Gulf coastal plains and lower Mississippi Delta areas.

[10] Scattered locations of shagbark hickory occur in the Sierra Madre Oriental of eastern Mexico.

[13] Other consumers include black bears, gray and red foxes, rabbits, and bird species such as mallards, wood ducks, bobwhites, and wild turkey.

[13] Shagbark hickory wood is used for smoking meat and for making the bows of Native Americans of the northern area.

The lumber is heavy, hard, and tough, weighing 63 lb/ cu ft when air-dried,[19] and has been employed for implements and tools that require strength.

Numerous hybrids among the Carya species with 32 chromosomes (pecan, bitternut, shellbark, and shagbark) have been described, though most are unproductive or have other flaws.