THE JAMES RIVER WALNUT 



Probably Cross Between Butternut and English Walnut Shows Remarkable 

 Vigor, Although Productivity is Slight and Nuts of no Commercial Value — 

 Promising as Bud Stock for Timber Vigor of Root Stock 

 Increased When Scions of Hybrid are Used. 



Peter Bisset, 



Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry, United 



States Department of Agriculture, Washington, P. C. 



IX \TRG1XIA, between Portsmouth 

 and Richmond, on the south side of 

 the James River, there is located 



the well-known and historical man- 

 sion of colonial days. "Lower Brandon." 

 Across the river, just opposite "Lower 

 Brandon" is "Rowe Farm", another of 

 the old Virginia estates dating back to 

 colonial days. On Rowe Farm there 

 is growing one of the most remarkable 

 walnut trees of which there is any record 

 in this country. 



The tree is of gigantic ]jroportions, 

 reaching a height of 100 feet, with its 

 head, or crown of branches, towering 

 above all other trees in the neighbor- 

 hood. Its spread of branches was 

 formerly 134 feet, but during a recent 

 storm a large branch was broken ofT 

 reducing its present spread of branches 

 to 123 feet. At four feet from the 

 ground the trunk of this tree measures 

 31 feet three inches in circumference, 

 and at six feet from the gound, over 25 

 feet in circumference. At 12 feet from 

 the ground the trunk divides into four 

 large branches, three of which arc 

 larger than any tree in the neighl)or- 

 hood. 



No one can tell how old this remark- 

 able tree is, and there is no record to 

 indicate its age. I am, however, in- 

 formed that the old farm house on this 

 ]:)lacc was built about 200 years ago and 

 the supposition is that the seed or 

 young tree from which this tree has 

 devcloijcd, was ])lanted at the same 

 time. The size of the tree would lead 

 one to believe that it is from 150 to 200 

 years old, and it also shows that the 

 itrce is of extraordinarily rai)id growlli, 



98 



which is no doubt due to its hybrid 

 origin, for if its rate of growth were the 

 same as that of our native walnut, it 

 would have had to be planted before 

 the settlement of Jamestown- — 1607 — 

 in order to have attained its present 

 size. 



I believe this tree to be a hybrid be- 

 tween our native butternut walnut 

 (ftiglans cineria) and the Persian, or 

 so-called English, walnut {Juglans 

 regia). The outer ix'ricar]j, or husk, of 

 the fruit reseml^lcs our common black 

 walnut [Juglans nigra). The nut also, 

 in many respects, resembles Juglans 

 nigra, but it is of larger size and of 

 elongated shape. The habit of the 

 tree, the growth of the branches, the 

 bark and the leaves, which are composed 

 of from five to seven ])airs of leaflets, 

 their sha])c, entire margins and veining, 

 would indicate a very close relationship 

 to the Persian Walnut (Juglans regia). 

 The kernel of the nut is so small that 

 it is not considered of any value for 

 home use, and it certainly is of no com- 

 mercial value as an edible nut. 



Prof. C. S. Sargent, of the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Jamaica Plains, Mass., who 

 has seen trees similar to this one. is 

 inclined to believe it to be a hylirid 

 between regia and nigra. I. howe\er, 

 am lead to believe that it is a hyl)rid 

 between regia and cineria for the follow- 

 ing reasons: 



The leaves of the liybrid have little 

 l)ubescent hairs at the base of and along 

 the veins of the leaflets that are entircK- 

 lacking in any other sjiccies I know of. 

 The sha])e of the nut is more like cineria 

 than nigra, and ui)()n examining a cross- 



