BLACK WALNUT 



J u !/l <ins nigra I.. 



The Walnut Fa mi I > 

 .ii GLANDAi i \i 



Habit and Habitat: A large forest tree, reaching a height of 100 

 feet, although more commonly 10-60 feet high, with a massive trunk 2-4 

 feet in diameter, rooted deeply; the open, often wide-spreading crown is 

 formed of numerous heavy branches and coarse, clumsy twigs; the 

 trunk often clear of branches for LO-20 feet above the ground. Prefers 

 the rich, moist soils of river bottom-lands and forested hillside 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, compound. 1-2 feet long, un- 

 equally pinnate. Leaflets 15-23, the terminal one often missing, 2- i 



inches long, about one half as broad, ovate to lanceolate, taper-pointed, 

 sharply serrate, thin, yellow-green and smooth above, paler and hairy 

 beneath. Petioles stout, hairy. Leaves aromatic when bruised, turning 

 bright yellow and falling early in the autumn. The terminal winter 

 bud is oblique, blunt, flattish, ovate, V6 inch long, brownish, silky-hairy. 

 lateral buds '_'- ! together, much smaller. Leaf Bears heart-shaped. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in .May with the leaves; 

 staminate produced in coarse, cylindrical, drooping, green catkins, .".-.") 

 inches long, calyx 6-lobed, on a hairy scale, corolla (», stamens numerous, 

 20-30, purplish; pistillate flowers borne singly or in erect clusters of 2-5 

 on a common stalk, about P 4 inch long, green and hairy, ealvx 1-lobed. 

 rolla 0. Fruit ripening in October, a globular nut, P r 2 Inches in di- 

 ameter, borne upon a short, thick stalk singly or in clustres of 2-.'!. covered 

 by a smooth, green husk which is green at first, then brown or black, 

 nut dark brown or black with a rough, irregularly furrowed shell, in- 

 closing a sweet, deeply lobed, oily, edible kernel or <w(\. 



Park, Twigs and Wood: Bark dark brown, tinned with red, choco- 

 late-brown when freshly cut. thick, deeply divided into bread, rounded 

 ridges which become broken on the surface into thick scales; branch' 

 hairy, brownish, becoming dull orange brown or dark brown; pith 

 am-colored, divided by horizontal plates. Wood dark chocolate-brown, 

 or sometimes tinged with purple, sapwood lighter, heavy, hard, cl< 

 grained, Strong, very durable in contact with soil. The finished wood 

 has a beautiful satiny surface, and takes a beautiful polish; used for 

 furniture, interior trim, <runstocks and airplane propellors. also for 

 billiard tables, artists' supplies, and formerly for fence posts and 

 rails; one of our most valuable American woods. 



Distri ution in the State: The black walnut has entered Nebraska 

 from the east and has spread along the Missouri river northward to the 

 Niobrara thence westward t<» Cherry county, and along the southern 

 border of the st;it" in the Blue and Republican valleys to Saline and 

 Harlan counties. Map '_!■">. 



Remarks: The black walnut growing alone is one of the grandest 

 and most massive American broadleaved trees and it is a tine species 

 to use in a variety of landscape effects. Here in Nebraska the tree has 

 n planted commonly in groves of which there are many tine illustra- 

 tions in the eastern counties. Although highly prized for years for a 

 great many important uses the wood of this tree was consumed in 

 iITOOUS quantities during the war in the manufacture of war ma- 

 en Nebraska, with her scanty supply, being called upon to 

 sacrifice her walnut trees. 



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