Shagbark Hickory orange dotted...

One of the oldest trees in our park, per our 2009 tree audit, is the Shagbark Hickory in the north end near Dundas Street West.  It's the tree in the sunken circular stone wall.  It is our understanding that when the Garrison Creek Ravine was filled in with dirt from the Bloor street subway dig in the 1950’s, the wall was installed to protect the old tree. The old shagbark hickory was perhaps the last remaining growth from the woodlands that lined the original Garrison Creek Ravine.

As of this week though, it's sporting an orange dot of death.  This means it's marked for removal.  The tree has been unwell and losing foliage and branches for a number of years but it is still sad to see it go. 

On a more optimistic note, among the 41 new saplings planted this spring (2011) is one young Shagbark Hickory.  It is just north-west of the old one, next to a new Bitternut Hickory.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that it can survive park life.  It's odds are greatly enhanced by the fact that it's in the care of one of our Adopt-A-Tree park neighbors.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resource, the Shagbark Hickory grows only in southern Ontario along the St Lawrence River and into Quebec.  It can live for 200 years, grows to be 25 metres tall, and prefers rich, moist soil.  The tree’s bark separates into long plates as it gets older, which loosen from the trunk and give the tree a ‘shaggy’ look – that’s how it gets its name.  Nuts from the shagbark hickory are edible and are 3 to 4.5 centimetres long.  They are sweet tasting and are a favourite food of squirrels. 

From Wikipedia we learn: The word "hickory" is said to have come from the Alonquian Indians word "pawcohiccora". Shagbark hickory nuts were a significant food source for the Algonquians.... They are unsuitable to commercial or orchard production: Shagbark hickories can grow to enormous sizes but are unreliable bearers. The nuts can be used as a good substitute for their more southerly relative, the pecan and have nearly the same application in baking.  Shagbark hickory wood is used forsmoking meat and for making the bows of Native Americans of the northern area.  The wood of the shagbark hickory has been used in a number of ways. The lumber is heavy, hard, tough and has been employed for implements and tools that require strength. These include: axles, axe handles, ploughs, and skis.  The bark of the shagbark hickory is also used to flavor a bitter maple syrup-style syrup.

We're sorry to see it go but hope the new one will also live a long life and be a reminder of the original creek-side tree.

For more information about the Shagbark Hickory and their edible nuts see here.