JUGLANDACEAE 

 Black Walnut 



fuglans nigra L. 



HABIT. A large tree 60-80 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 

 13-2.3, 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 stam- 

 inate in cylindrical, greenish, drooping catkins 3-5 inches long; 

 calyx 6-lobed, borne on a hairy bract; corolla o; stamens numer- 

 ous, with purple anthers; the pistillate solitary or several on a 

 common peduncle, about % inch long, their bracts and bractlets 

 hairy; calyx 4-lobed, pubescent; corolla o; styles and stigmas 2.* 



FRUIT. October ; globose, i l / 2 -2 inches in diameter, smooth, 

 not viscid; solitary or borne in clusters of 2-3; nuts with irregu- 

 larly furrowed shell, inclosing a sweet, edible kernel. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud Y 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 

 furrowed by broad, rounded ridges. 



WOOD. Heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, very durable in 

 contact with the soil, rich dark brown, with thin, lighter colored 

 sapwood. 



DISTRIBUTION. Lower Peninsula as far north as Bay 

 City, but more abundant in the southern portion of its range. 



HABITAT. Prefers rich bottom-lands and fertile hillsides. 



NOTES. Leaves appear late and fall early. Fruit very 

 aromatic. Pith chambered, cream colored. The juices from the 

 husk stain the hands brown. Not easily transplanted. Often 

 infested with caterpillars. 



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