The Trees of Vermont 81 



JUGLANDACEAE 



Black Waluut 

 Juglans nigra L. 



Habit. — A large tree 50-75 feet high, with a massive trunk 2-5 

 feet in diameter; forming an open, capacious crown of heavy branches 

 and coarse branchlets. 



Leaves. — Alternate, compound. 1-2 feet long. Leaflets 13-23, the 

 terminal often lacking, 2-4 inches long and one-half as broad; sessile; 

 ovate-lanceolate, taper-pointed ; sharp-serrate ; thin ; yellow-green and 

 glabrous above, lighter and soft-pubescent beneath. Petioles stout, 

 pubescent. Foliage aromatic when bruised. 



Flowers. — May, with the leaves ; monoecious ; the staminate in 

 cylindrical, greenish, drooping catkins 3-5 inches long; calyx 6-lobed, 

 borne on a hairy bract ; corolla ; stamens numerous, with purple an- 

 thers ; the pistillate solitary or several on a common peduncle, about 

 y^ inch long, their bracts and bractlets hairy ; calyx 4-lobed, pubescent ; 

 corolla ; styles and stigmas 2. 



Fruit. — October; globose, l^^-2 inches in diameter,, smooth, not 

 viscid; solitary or borne in clusters of 2-3; nuts with irregularly fur- 

 rowed shell, inclosing a sweet, edible kernel; aromatic. 



Winter-buds. — Terminal bud 3/3 inch long, ovoid, obliquely blunt, 

 slightly flattened, silky-tomentose. 



Bark. — Twigs brownish and hairy, becoming darker and smooth ; 

 thick, brownish or blackish on the trunk and deeply furrow^ed by broad, 

 rounded ridges. 



Wood. — Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, very durable in con- 

 tact with the soil, rich dark brown, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. 



Notes. — The black walnut was once very abundant, especially in 

 the Mississippi basin, where it grew to a height of 150 feet. It is 

 valued for its nuts and beautiful wood. It prefers rich bottom-lands 

 and fertile hillsides. The leaves appear late and fall early. One 

 great drawback to its use in ornamental planting is the fact tiiat it is 

 so often infested with caterpillars. 



