Embedded Files
Juglandaceae
Juglans nigra
Specimen Size: 85.4ft tall, 28.8in in diameter.
Location: Denny Lawn on the Northeast (right when facing Denny Hall) side of King lane NE just before the central intersection of paths.
Historical Background: We've all eaten walnuts, but black walnuts possess zestier flavor and are harder to crack than the nuts of other walnut species. They grow on enormous trees, native in much of the United States, but not the Pacific Northwest. However, they’ve spread west and have been naturalized in most of the country. The wood is supreme in its fine grain, lovely dark color, and hardness. Besides the food and wood, the trees serve as excellent long lived shade trees. The nut casings contain a dark black-brown dye and tannins which act as a mordant, a chemical that helps fix a dye. Many Native American tribes utilize walnuts. The Apache have multiple dishes in which they incorporate rare or cooked walnuts. They also apply the juice extracted from green walnut husks to horses and livestock to protect them from diseases and parasites.
Non-Native
Native Range: Eastern regions of North America
Identifying Features: The Black walnut is another species with compound leaves, which are about 20” (15cm) long and hairy beneath, sprouting 11-23 leaflets in opposite pattern up to about 4.5” (12cm) long. Leaflets are serrated on the edges, and a yellowish green color and often lacking a terminal leaflet. The tree has a broad open crown, with a tall straight trunk to a height of 100’ (30m).
Identifying Features In Depth:
Form: The tree has a broad open crown, with a tall straight trunk to a height of 100’ (30m).
Leaves: The compound leaves of this tree are generally 20” (15cm) long, with hairs beneath. They sprout 11-23 leaflets growing in opposite pattern up to about 4.5” (12cm) long. Leaflets are serrated on the edges, and a yellowish green color and often lacking a terminal leaflet and arising from a 1cm ovid hairy bud.
Bark: Bark is a dark brown or black color, often cross furrowed up and down the tree and its branches.
Reproductive Bodies: The Black walnut reproductive process gives rise to...WALNUTS! These edible nuts 2-4cm thick and corrugated with grooves are contained within rounded fruit to 2” (5cm) in diameter and greenish in color. The shell of the nut must be cracked to reach the edible portions, and is quite delicious.
Native range of Juglans nigra in eastern North America. Map compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Below is the description found for this species on the original Brockman Memorial Tree Tour:
Historic Tree Tour Information: On the lawn south of Denny Hall by the stone bench erected by the Class of 1915 is a stately Black Walnut tree. Across the path from it is the largest pine on campus, a Western White Pine. We've all eaten walnuts, but black walnuts possess zestier flavor and are harder to crack than the nuts of other walnut species. They grow on enormous trees, native in much of the United States, but not the Pacific Northwest. The wood is supreme in its fine grain, lovely dark color, and hardness. Besides the food and wood, the trees serve as excellent long lived shade trees.
Black walnut trees have insect repelling qualities and the leaves and husks have been used to repel fleas, flies, and bedbugs. The roots and leaves contain chemicals that suppress the growth of other plants and these chemicals are washed off the leaves by the rain, creating a unique understory plant assemblage. Black walnut can be added to a compost pile to speed bacterial activity and decomposition. The nut casings contain a dark black-brown dye and tannins which act as a mordant, a chemical that helps fix a dye.
Page updated
Report abuse