Description ⁹

Juglandaceae | black walnut

Habitat: Rich woods.

Leaves: Pinnate, with 11-17 or more slender, taper-pointed, sharply toothed leaflets, to 4 1/2" long, glossy dark green above, hairy at least beneath, aromatic.

Bark: Dark gray-brown to blackish, with narrow, rough edges.

Flowers: Males and females both small and without petals, clustered in catkins, male catkins yellow-green to 4" long, hanging, female catikins short, borne separately on the same plant in late spring to early summer.

Fruit: A rounded, edible, brown nut, enclosed in a green husk, to 2" long, borne singly or in pairs.

Coombes, A. J. (1992). Trees. New York: Dorling Kindersley.

Importance ¹⁰

Walnut wood is used for furniture, interior paneling, and gunstocks. the walnut serves as food for humans and wildlife. Ground walnut shells are used to safely clean airplane pistons and jet engines, as filler for dynamite, and as a non slip agent in car tires. We’d be missing a pretty wood type. And it'd be much more dangerous to clean jet engines. Many animals would be missing a food source and a good bit of forest would be gone.

Sources and Credits

1. anonymous, no known copyright restrictions (public domain), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Walnut_middle.JPG
2. (c) Antonio Moreno Talamantes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Antonio Moreno Talamantes
3. (c) José María Escolano, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2632/4100545380_13bcaac4d9.jpg
4. (c) Plant.Hunter, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://www.flickr.com/photos/sferox/8594499190/
5. (c) Angi M., some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Angi M.
6. (c) anonymous, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_walnut_bark_2.jpg
7. (c) Leonel Roget, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Leonel Roget
8. (c) Böhringer Friedrich, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juglans_regia_Echte_Walnussfrucht_2.jpg
9. (c) floracliff, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/238353
10. (c) 20Victoria Heffner, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://www.inaturalist.org/guide_taxa/492967

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• eFloras.org
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• SEINet Symbiota portals
• Tropicos
• VASCAN by Canadensys

Range Map

(c) Barcode of Life Data Systems, some rights reserved (CC-BY)

iNat Map