THE BUTTERNUT 



THE Butternut is one of the best known of all of the nut-bearing trees. It is dis- 

 tributed from New Brunswick to Delaware at sea level, and extends southward 

 along the mountains to Georgia and Alabama. On the west it extends to Dakota, 

 Nebraska, and Missouri, and is also found in Northeastern Arkansas. 



The Butternut and the Black Walnut are at once distinguished from the Hickories 

 at any season of the year by the presence in the twigs of a hollow, chambered pith. In 

 winter the Butternut is distinguished from the Black Walnut by the dark brown pith and 

 the transverse fringe of hairs that is found across the front border of the leaf-scar. The 

 bark of the young twigs is of a deep yellow brown color, smooth and shining and dotted 

 with many small, round, whitish spots. The buds are very characteristic, being covered 

 with a dense yellowish brown pubescence, and forming with the curiously shaped leai- 

 scars a combination of characters that are easily remembered. The trees have a wide- 

 spreading habit of branching which is very characteristic, especially in young specimens. 



Early in May in the more northern regions the flowers of the Butternut appear just 

 as the leaves are unfolding. The pollen-bearing and the seed-bearing blossoms are in 

 separate groups upon the same tree, the former consisting of long catkins which generally 

 project from the buds on the sides of the twigs near the ends. When they develop they are 

 often six inches long and of a greenish color, becoming somewhat brownish as the florets 

 mature. The seed-bearing flowers are much smaller, being borne either singly or in groups 

 of a few blossoms and being green with rather strikingly colored red stigmas. Each 

 floret consists of a small, hairy, four-lobed calyx with four small petals between the lobes. 

 The tree depends upon the wind for the carrying of the pollen, and the flower has, as an 

 adaptation to this method of pollination, an extraordinarily developed stigma. The long 

 slender nuts are edible and are eagerly sought for every autumn. 



The leaves of the Butternut bear a general resemblance to those of the Black Walnut. 

 They are large compound leaves, and often reach an enormous size. When they first come 

 out of the bud they are slightly pubescent, and are more or less covered with a sticky 

 substance. 



While the Butternut is often a very attractive tree as seen growing spontaneously, 

 it is not to be depended upon for ornamental planting, as it is very apt to develop dead 

 branches which interfere with its symmetry. Good-sized trees, even when growing under 

 favorable conditions, generally show this disfigurement, and larger trees are very likely to 

 die completely before they attain any great size. The species does not bear transplanting 

 very well, and may best be reproduced by nuts planted where the trees are desired. 



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