Big Pecan Tree at Natchez Trace State Park

One of the world's largest pecan trees

Big Pecan Tree in 2004, Natchez Trace State Park in western Tennessee

Copyright © 2004 Ric Brooks. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

The Big Pecan Tree of Carroll County, Tennessee (above photo) was one of the world's largest pecan trees. In 1958, it was measured as 104 feet in height, 125 feet in crown spread, and 17 feet 8 inches in circumference of the trunk. Though it was a mature tree, it was still growing! In 1973 (image of the tree in about 1973), it was measured as 106 feet in height, 136 feet in spread, and 18 feet 2 inches in circumference. Its shade was said to cover an acre of ground.

The American Forestry Association recorded the tree's 1973 measurements in its Register of Big Trees and named it "The World's Largest Pecan Tree". It held the title for a short time, but within a year, larger pecan trees were found in Louisiana and Virginia.

Ric Brooks' photo of the tree (above) was taken in 2004, near the end of the Big Pecan Tree's life. Deterioration is clearly evident; however, the size of the tree is suggested by the massive trunk and branch captured in the photo. The trunk was filled with concrete, some of which is visible. Because of the concrete, the exact age of the tree could not be ascertained.

Planted along the Natchez Trace

The Big Pecan Tree grew along the Natchez Trace in west-central Tennessee. I picked up an information sheet titled "Natchez Trace State Park History" at the state park's visitor center several years ago. It described the Natchez Trace as...

...originally... an ill-defined series of trails and paths beaten out by the Indians and perhaps the buffalo. Several of these trails, though individually unimportant, when joined together lead to a Northeasterly direction from the present day Natchez, Mississippi, to Nashville, Tennessee.

Later the settlers would travel down the Trace to sell their goods, often on foot, further tramping out and identifying a more definite Trace.

(Source: Undated, unattributed hand-out from the Natchez Trace State Park Visitors Center)

A high, dry ridge in Carroll County, Tennessee, was an unlikely spot for The Big Pecan Tree to grow. Pecans were not native to that area, which suggests that an old legend about the tree is probably based on fact. Oral history claims that a pecan nut was brought to the site by travelers on the Natchez Trace, which passed a mere 30 feet from the site where the tree grew.

A plaque placed at the tree in the 1930s by the John McCall Chapter of the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution) recorded the legend: "Accepted tradition says that this tree had grown from a pecan given to Sukey Morris by one of Andrew Jackson's men as they traveled homeward after the Battle of New Orleans." No official records of Sukey Morris are known to exist, but it is thought she might have been the child of squatters who were living along the Natchez Trace. The area was still Indian territory at the end of the War of 1812.

The 1986 History of Carroll County provides some additional documentation of the tree's history:

In the book "Westward to the Roundtop", Mr. Morris mentions the pecan tree as a landmark in 1830. Families coming to Carroll County from North Carolina passed the tree on their way to Lexington from the Roundtop Community; it was already bearing fruit.

(Source: History of Carroll County, p. 63)

A life that spanned three centuries

The pecan (Carya illinoinensis) is long-lived, like its brethren, the hickories, and many other members of the walnut family. It reaches maturity at around 150-200 years. Many specimens survive 250 years or longer. If the Big Pecan Tree was planted in 1816, it would have been 188 years old in 2004, the date when Ric Brooks' photograph was taken.

The Big Pecan Tree, already supported with cables and filled with concrete by tree surgeons, was heavily damaged by a windstorm in 2000. For a few years, one large branch survived, as seen in the photo. Brooks commented on the tree's sad condition:

The tree was in pretty bad shape when I took that picture. That one limb was about 12 feet off the ground and stretched out about 15 feet. Just the limb itself was very impressive. You can see in the picture that the trunk was dying by then. It was alive but the person I was with and myself both knew that it wasn't long for this earth.

(Source: Email from Ric Brooks, November 20, 2009)

Now the tree has completely died. The remains of its trunk have been cut down and pushed into a gully, apparently in 2008 or early 2009. The D.A.R. plaque telling the legend of Sukey Morris has been removed.

"There's nothing left to see," a park secretary assured me, when I telephoned to inquire about the Big Pecan Tree. She underestimated my curiosity. I would enjoy seeing even the stump.

On the web:
Natchez Trace Pecan, Wildersville, TN

Shaggy barked hickories near a stream

Carya ovata or Carya laciniosa

I saw these hickory trees in an old church yard in Christian County, KY. They are growing about 100 feet from a little stream that usually has some pools of water, even in the hottest, driest months of summer.

I don't know whether these hickory trees are shagbarks (Carya ovata)or shellbarks (Carya laciniosa). The two species are very similar. Shellbarks are said to prefer moist locations, so these may be shellbarks. The bark of shellbarks is supposed to be a little less shaggy and scaly than shagbarks. To be honest, I usually call them all shagbarks.

In Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America (see bibliographic info at bottom of page), Gary Hightshoe writes that shagbark hickories (Carya ovata) sometimes grow in alluvial soils in the southern U.S. -- that is, where a stream has deposited silt over the centuries. However, they are often found in dryer environs, such as sunny, wooded hillsides.

Shagbarks can tolerate poor drainage but they will not live where water stands for long periods of time. The trees in the photo are far enough away from the stream that flooding would be brief and infrequent.

Shagbarks are long-lived, slow-growing trees, often surviving over 200 years. The church was built in the first decade of the 1900s, and I suspect that the trees were saplings or bigger at that time.

The shagbark hickory's shape is somewhat narrow. Typically, its spread is about half its height. These trees' lower branches were probably removed to facilitate mowing, making them look particularly narrow in shape. In maturity, the shagbark can reach 100 feet in height in optimal conditions. I believe these trees are about 100 feet tall.

The photo below shows another shagbark or shellbark hickory, a few miles away, which also grows near a little stream. I suspect this one may indeed be a shellbark, because the nuts are so big already.

Tree Planting in the Amana Colonies

Useful trees cultivated by the Inspirationists

The Amana Colonies of east-central Iowa were one of the most successful communes in the United States. The colonies were established by a group of like-minded Pietists who immigrated from Germany in the 1840s and settled briefly in New York. In the mid-1850s, the group moved to the prairies of eastern Iowa, where they lived communally through the early 1930s. In 1905, the group held over 26,000 acres and the population had grown to over 1800.

A shared religious faith was the basis of the commune and the glue that held it together for over 70 years. The settlers of Amana called themselves "The Community of True Inspiration," believing that God speaks to His followers through inspired prophets, in modern times as in olden times. However, they also believed that the words of the Werkzeuge (prophets) should be carefully tested to see if they were true inspirations -- thence, the name of the group.

One of the Werkzeuge who had a great deal of influence over life in the colonies was Barbara Heineman (1795-1883). The hundreds of inspirations she received included one, late in her life, that dealt with the types of trees that should be grown in the Amana villages. Trees that had been planted for shade or beauty were to be removed, for only fruit-bearing trees should be planted at the homes of the Inspirationists.

There is in the Jahrbuch for 1880, a testimony by Barbara Heinemann, given three years before her death, in which the planting of ornamental trees is severely denounced by the Lord.  "Wilt thou, then," it reads, "prove that it is a beautiful custom to plant trees not bearing fruit? Know then, that the pleasures of the eye and of the flesh and the over bearing manner are a mark of worldliness, and that the spirit of the world has created in you the desire for such a beginning. Alas, away with this idolatry. See ye to it then, that all trees not bearing fruit be removed from the house, for they belong to the pleasure of the eye. You indeed have the opportunity to plant a fruit tree instead, in which the Lord and all sensible people take pleasure."


Source: Amana, the Community of True Inspiration (p. 97) by Bertha Maude Horack Shambaugh. Published in 1908 by the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

The effects of this proclamation are still visible today, according to Jeff Meyer, author of The Tree Book, who notes that the tree population of the seven Amana villages still contains many hickory trees, planted in acquiescence to Heinemann's inspiration.

The Amana Inspirationists, as the Iowa State Horticultural Society reported in 1898, cultivated a superior wild red cherry through careful selection of the seed.

In the German or Amana colonies on the Iowa River in Johnson county, Iowa, which moved to their present place from the State of New York, Mr Budd tells that there is grown in quantity in each of their seven villages a variety of the bird cherry which bears young and abundantly, a fruit which they value for cooking. It has dark foliage and pendulous branches and does not sprout after it commences to bear heavily. The fruit is about as large as a good sized black currant, with a stone no larger than an ordinary bird cherry. It is a pleasant acid, rather too acid to eat raw, but so valued for pies as to be grown largely.

Source: Fruits for the Cold North (p. 35 ) by Charles Gibb. "Reprinted from the Report of the Ontario fruit growers association for 1883."

They also grew groves of catalpa trees, probably for fence posts and as a cash crop for railroad ties.

The National Park Service describes groves of pine trees, planted throughout the Amana farmland. Pine trees lined the borders of cemeteries. The schoolchildren of the colonies also planted and tended several large groves of pine trees called schulwälder (school forests). The pine groves were much enjoyed by the Inspirationists as places to walk and to picnic.

The pine groves of the Amana Colonies were commended in a 1908 U.S. Forest Service bulletin :"The Amana colony in Iowa County has several large groves of white pine and other pines which have proved very successful. Soil of this region is usually a rich sandy loam."

One large schulwäld of Austrian pines was harvested during World War II, and its wood given to the war effort. At least one schulwäld is still standing on private property in the area, according to the National Park Service.

Wikipedia image of a historic home in or near

the village of Middle Amana

The very best firewoods

Six excellent woods for heat

Here's a list of six of the best firewoods. (The number in parenthesis is millions of BTUs produced by a cord of this wood under optimal conditions.)

• Sugar maple (25.0)
• Red oak (25.3)
• White oak (27.0)
• Black locust (28.1)
• Shagbark hickory (29.1)
• Osage orange (30.7)

(Source: Wood Fuel for Heating, a University of Missouri extension service publication)

A few years ago, I did a lot of research on wood stoves as we prepared to buy a new one. In one online forum, I read an interchange between a New Englander and a Midwesterner. The Midwesterner wondered whether a certain brand of wood stove would withstand the hot fires he liked to made with hedge (Osage orange) firewood.

The New Englander replied that he made hot white oak fires all the time in his wood stove of that brand. He said with considerable scorn that he doubted if hedge could burn as hot as the fine white oak of the East Coast. He should have done a little research because, according to the University of Missouri publication linked above, he was mistaken.

Strong boughs of the pignut hickory tree

Splitting hickory firewood

My husband has been cutting up a hickory tree for firewood. The tree was uprooted by Hurricane Isaac when it ripped through Kentucky in September of 2008. I've identified the tree as a pignut hickory based on its bark and nuts and the location in which it grew, though I didn't ever get to see the tree's leaves.

We have a mid-sized Huskee hydraulic log splitter that exerts 22 tons of pressure, and usually, it does a great job of changing a slice of tree trunk into firewood-size pieces of wood.

The photo at right shows the results of applying the log splitter's force to a slice of the hickory tree that had a big knot -- that is, a big branch growing out of it. An outer section of four or five inches (or more) split away, but the branch remained firmly attached to the log.

That's why you don't often see a hickory tree with a limb that has broken off and torn the bark off the trunk of the tree. Their branches are attached extremely well.

I noticed also that these branches are attached at a right angle to the trunk they came from -- wider angles ("crotches") are less likely to split off. Narrow crotches can be correctively pruned out sometimes, but some trees are just built strong by nature. Hickory trees fall in that category -- I'm sure this tree never received any corrective pruning.

Hickory firewood is some of the best. It burns bright and hot, and it makes coals that glow and produce heat for hours after the flames are gone. When the coals finally burn out, very little ash remains.

It's too bad that this tree came down in the storm, but as the saying goes, "It's an ill wind that blows no good." The fine hickory firewood will be much appreciated next winter.

-----
P.S. That's not hickory that the split pieces are leaning against. I think it's something Dennis brought home when the Boy Scouts were cleaning up an old cemetery.

Tall trees that resist wind and ice damage

23 tall-growing native trees that resist wind and ice damage

Updated, 3/6/10.

All of these trees can reach 75-100 feet in height or more when mature. All are native trees of North America with moderate to good resistance to damage by wind and ice.

Trees marked with an asterisk below should be considered moderately resistant. A general rule to remember is that strong evergreens are not as resistant to wind and ice damage as strong deciduous trees. Because of their foliage, they tend to catch more winter wind, snow, and ice. (That's why evergreen trees are often planted in windbreaks.)

1. Acer nigrum -- Black maple
2. Acer saccharum -- Sugar maple*
3. Carya cordiformis -- Bitternut hickory
4. Carya glabra -- Pignut hickory
5. Carya illinoensis -- Pecan
6. Carya ovata -- Shagbark hickory
7. Carya tomentosa -- Mockernut hickory
8. Fagus grandifolia -- American beech
9. Gymnocladus dioicus -- Kentucky coffeetree
10. Juglans nigra -- Eastern black walnut
11. Liquidambar styraciflua -- American Sweetgum
12. Magnolia acuminata -- Cucumbertree magnolia
13. Picea pungens -- Colorado spruce
14. Pinus ponderosa -- Ponderosa pine*
15. Pinus resinosa -- Red pine*
16. Platanus occidentalis -- Sycamore, American planetree*
17. Quercus alba -- White oak
18. Quercus bicolor -- Swamp white oak
19. Quercus borealis -- Northern red oak
20. Quercus macrocarpa -- Bur oak*
21. Quercus velutina -- Black oak
22. Taxodium distichum -- Common baldcypress
23. Tsuga canadensis -- Canada hemlock*

Remember -- if the weather is bad enough, any tree can lose branches, snap its trunk, or even lose its grip and fall over. You should use good judgment about keeping your home safe. It's not wise to have big trees next to your house, no matter what kind of trees they are. 

For a (usually) safe distance between house and tree, allow half of the mature tree's spread (half of the diameter of its crown). If the mature tree will have a spread of 70 feet, it should be planted at least 35 feet from any buildings. This does mean that many suburban properties are too small for large trees.

If you want a guarantee that you will never have to cope with fallen branches or storm-damaged trees, simply remove all trees from your property. That should eliminate the problem.

Sources for the above list include:

Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines for Urban and Rural America: A Planting Design Manual for Environmental Designers by Gary L. Hightshoe, published in 1988 by Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.

Ice Storm Damage to Urban Trees, an article in the appendix of Storms Over the Urban Forest, a publication of the USDA Forest Service. (This article's table, "Ice storm susceptibility of tree species commonly planted in urban areas" is reprinted in many reputable articles about ice damage susceptibility on the internet.)

Trees For Nebraska Ice Storm Recovery and Susceptibility of Trees to Ice Storm Damage in the Great Plains, published by the Nebraska Statewide Arboreum

Native trees for dry, steep sites

Native trees that will grow on dry hillsides

These native trees will tolerate sites with excessive drainage -- hillsides, banks, or slopes, and extremely coarse soils. They will also tolerate droughty conditions, though most of them would like to have a little water sometimes. The common name of each tree is linked to its page in the USDA Plants Database.

Betula populifolia -- Gray birch (tolerates wet to dry conditions)
Carya tomentosa -- Mockernut hickory (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Cotinus americanus -- American smoketree (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Crataegus crusgali -- Cockspur hawthorn (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Crataegus mollis -- Downy hawthorn (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Crataegus nitida -- Glossy hawthorn (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Crataegus phaenopyrum -- Washington hawthorn (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Crataegus punctata -- Frosted (or dotted) hawthorn (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Fraxinus quadrangulata -- Blue ash (tolerates wet to dry conditions)
Juniperus virginiana -- Eastern redcedar (tolerates wet to dry conditions)
Liridendron tulipifera -- Tuliptree or yellow poplar (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Maclura pomifera -- Osage orange or hedgeapple (prefers moist, tolerates dry)
Pinus banksiana -- Jack pine (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Pinus ponderosa -- Ponderosa pine (average to dry conditions)
Pinus rigida -- Pitch pine (average to dry conditions)
Populus deltoides -- Cottonwood or eastern poplar (tolerates wet to dry)
Prunus americana -- American wild plum (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Prunus pennsylvanica -- Pin cherry (tolerates wet to dry)
Quercus marilandica -- Blackjack oak (dry)
Quercus muhlenbergi -- Chinkapin oak (dry)
Quercus velutina -- Black oak (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Rhus species -- Various sumacs (prefer some moisture, tolerate dry)
Robinia pseudoacacia -- Black locust (prefers some moisture, tolerates dry)
Sassafras albidum -- Sassafras (tolerates wet to dry)

Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas at Land Between the Lakes, Kentucky

Restoring a lost ecosystem

Land Between the Lakes (LBL) is a long narrow strip of land that lies between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky. This inland peninsula was formerly owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 1998, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) took over ownership, and LBL is now a National Recreation Area operated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Boating, fishing, camping, and hunting (in season) brings many visitors to LBL. LBL also has an elk and bison reserve, a telescope and a planetarium, an 1860's farm ("The Homeplace"), a nature center, historic sites, and more. There is a significant bald eagle population.

Oak-grasslands restoration planned

Two Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Area (OGRDA), are now being planned and developed. Over 8000 acres will be restored. One area will be located in Tennessee near The Homeplace and the other area will be in Kentucky near the elk and bison range.

When restoration is complete, the oak-grasslands will "create habitat for wildlife, improve forest health, and provide recreational and environmental education opportunities." This promise is quoted from an informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The open forests of the past

Today, the upland area included in Land Between The Lakes is mainly a dense, solid-canopied forest. It was not always so. According to old writings and other ecological evidence, the forest was much more open at the time Europeans came to the area. The canopy admitted enough sunlight that a wide variety of grasses and wildflowers covered the ground between and beneath the trees. Areas of open forest were interspersed with grasslands.

Fire was the primary agent that kept the forests open. The American Indians and early settlers deliberately burned the woods on a semi-regular basis.

How the oak-grasslands will be restored

In OGRDA, LBL will re-create the following pre-European conditions:

On upper slopes and ridges across the area, grasslands (less than 10 percent canopy closure) and open oak woodlands (10-60 percent canopy closure) are interspersed in variable mixtures. Understories are dominated by native grasses and wildflowers. Most mid- and lower-slopes support open oak forests (60-80 percent canopy closure), with understories containing regenerated oaks in sufficient numbers to provide for sustaining oak on these sites over time.

Source: PDF document: Abstract for an oral presentation, Tennessee Native Grasslands Workshop, January 24, 2007

First, the trees will be thinned to re-create an open woodland where grasses can flourish. Timber will be harvested with the goal of leaving behind scattered trees of various ages, especially oak and hickory trees. Some trees will be cut and left, to simulate the natural treefall that would occur in a oak-grassland.

Foresters will burn the oak-grassland areas on a regular schedule (every 2 to 12 years) to maintain the balance of trees, grasses, and other plants.

Benefits to plants, animals, and people

As the restoration procedes, it will help up to 40 species of native plants and animals that require a grasslands habitat.

These open conditions will benefit rare of declining species such as Barbed Rattlesnake Root, Barn Owl, Prairie Warbler, Northern Pine Snake and Northern Bobwhite Quail. Other species that will benefit include White-tail Deer, Fox Squirrel, and Wild Turkey.

Source: An informational pamphlet published by the USDA Forest Service: Oak-Grassland Restoration Demonstration Areas, Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

It would be nice if a population of prairie chickens could be re-established in the OGRDA.

The White-tail Deer in LBL don't need any help, in my humble opinion. The area is overrun with them. At one campground where we spent several days, young deer lurked in the woods near the campsites, apparently hoping to find food. At night, big herds of deer milled around the picnic tables and restroom facilities beside the lake.

Hiking, birding, and interpretive trails through the oak-grasslands have been promised. The trails will be an excellent educational and recreational resource.

Partners of the Oak Grasslands Restoration Demonstration Area

The following agencies and organizations are working together on the LBL oak-grasslands restoration project:

• USDA Forest Service
• National Wild Turkey Federation
• The Nature Conservancy
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Quail Unlimited
• U.S. Fire Learning Network
• The Central Hardwoods Joint Venture

Read more about LBL and the oak-grasslands restoration

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (official website)
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (Wikipedia entry)
PDF document: A 2006 informational letter about the proposed oak-grasslands project in LBL

Technorati tags: oak-grasslands, Land Between The Lakes, LBL, ecosystem restoration, native grasslands, Tennessee grasslands, Kentucky grasslands

Five Tall, Narrow Deciduous Trees

Narrowest of the Tall, Native, Deciduous Trees

These trees can reach 75 to 100 feet in height at maturity, in optimal conditions. They are among the tallest native trees.

At maturity, their spread is generally about 1/2 their height -- that is, roughly 35 to 50 feet at most. They won't be as narrow as the narrowest of the tall, native conifers, but they're narrow for deciduous trees.

The names are linked to more information about the species at the USDA/NSRC Plants Database, the North Carolina State University's Urban Horticulture website, and the University of Connecticut Plants Database.

Pignut Hickory -- Carya glabra

Shagbark hickory -- Carya ovata

Mockernut hickory -- Carya alba, or Carya tomentosa (depending on which naming system you are using, I guess.)

Northern catalpa -- Catalpa speciosa

Tuliptree, often called tulip poplar -- Liriodendron tulipifera

The hickories will be slow growing trees. If you can offer a site that doesn't have compacted soil or salt splashing in from a roadway in winter, the mockernut (mocknut, white) hickory is a nice tree that should do well -- long lived, resistant to some diseases that bother other hickories, not susceptible to weather damage, has some wildlife value.

If you're looking for faster growing trees, the catalpa or tulip poplar will do that. The catalpa is the shorter-lived of the two. It may not last 75 years; rarely would it last a century. The tulip tree will live up to twice that long --150 years or rarely two centuries. Both will probably suffer some wind and ice damage, due to their weak wood. The tulip poplar will need a moister site than the catalpa.

The next narrowest tall tree after these would probably be the Cucumbertree Magnolia (Magnolia acuminata). It tends to be a bit wider, with a spread 1/2 to 3/4 of its height.

These are listed particularly for the consideration of Xris at Flatbush Gardener, who gardens in Brooklyn. He said he needed some tall narrow deciduous trees, not just tall narrow conifers.

An old, giant tuliptree grows in Queens. (Both Queens and Brooklyn are part of New York City.) The Queens Poplar is described in the article, A Rendezvous with Two Giant Trees.

Related posts:
Five Tall Narrow Trees
Narrow trees for small spaces
Ten Tall-Growing Trees

Image:
Lirodendron tulipifera (tulip poplar). From Wikimedia Commons by Jean-Pol GRANDMONT. This tree grows in the private park of the Louvignies castle in Belgium. See another image here.

Comparison of the fuel value of firewoods

Wood burners agree that oak and hickory are great firewoods.

If you have a wood stove or fireplace, it's prudent to know what types of wood will produce the most heat per cord (or rick, or truck-load, or whatever unit by which you buy wood!)

A great chart is available at Firewood Ratings and Info. A short study of the chart reveals that oaks, hickory, white ash, and beech wood are some of the very best.

The Utah State Forestry also has an excellent firewood ratings chart with information about a somewhat different set of trees than would be found in my area (Kentucky). It gives high ratings to osage orange, pinon, honeylocust, and black locust, as well as oak and beech.

Compare those results with the following observations from about 130 years ago. It's interesting, but not surprising, that they liked oak, hickory, and white ash as firewoods. Beech didn't make their list, for some reason.

It is a great convenience to know the comparative value of different kinds of wood for fuel. Shellbark hickory is regarded as the highest standard of our forest trees, and calling that 100, other woods will compare with it for real value as fuel for house purposes as follows :

Shellbark Hickory, 100
Pignut Hickory, 95
White Oak, 84
White Ash, 77
Dogwood, 75
Scrub Oak, 73
White Hazel, 72
Apple Wood, 70
Red Oak, 67
White Beech, 65
Black Birch, 62
Yellow Oak, 60
Hard Maple, 59
White Elm, 58
Red Cedar, 56
Wild Cherry, 55
Yellow Pine, 54
Chestnut, 52
Yellow Poplar, 51
Butternut and White Birch, 43
White Pine, 30.

It is worth bearing in mind that in woods of the same species there is a great difference, according to the soil on which they grow. A tree that grows on a wet, low, rich ground will be less solid and, less durable for fuel, and therefore of less value than a tree of the same kind that grows on a dry and poor soil. To the ordinary purchaser oak is oak and pine is pine, but for home use, the tree grown on dry upland and standing apart from others, is worth a great deal more.

Source: Manufacturer and Builder, January 1878. Volume 10, Issue 1, page 19.

Two examples of shaggy bark

Young shagbark hickories and an old silver maple

These two young shagbark hickories are growing in a road ditch. To be completely honest, I call all shaggy-barked hickories "shagbarks", but some of them could be shellbarks. I don't have a clue how to tell the difference between shagbark and shellbark hickories from the bark. There are some minor differences in their leaves and nuts -- enough to make them two separate members of the walnut family.

Here is another shaggy-barked tree -- an aged silver maple. Old silver maples develop long scales of bark that are loose at the ends. This sort of bark on any species of tree is called "exfoliating."

It would be difficult to confuse a shaggy-barked silver maple with a shaggy-barked hickory, though, even in winter when no leaves are present. Silver maple trees have a broad, spreading crown with the central trunk breaking into massive branches. The crown's width may even be more than the tree's height! Shagbark/shellbark hickories generally have a much narrower crown, about half as wide as they are tall, and their strong central trunk persists high into the tree.