Leaves are alternate, compound with five to nine leaflets.
The shagbark is the most common of the hickories and is an important timber tree with a narrow, open crown. It is found over the eastern United States and is quite general throughout Iowa from bottomlands and moist slopes to the drier slopes and ridge tops. The pinnately compound leaves are 8 to 16 inches long with five to seven dark yellow- green, broad oval leaflets with finely toothed margins. The fruit is a brownish nut with a thick shell and a sweet kernel, enclosed in a thick, splitting husk. The twigs are smooth, or clothed with short hairs.