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Butternut

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

Butternut
Conservation status: Endangered

A mature Butternut tree

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Juglandaceae
Genus:	Juglans
Species:	J. cinerea

Binomial name

Juglans cinerea
L.

The Butternut (Juglans cinerea), also occasionally known as the White Walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada, from southern Quebec west to Minnesota, south to northern Alabama and southwest to northern Arkansas. It is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m tall, rarely 30 m, and 40-80 cm stem diameter, with light gray bark. The leaves are pinnate, 40-70 cm long, with 11-17 leaflets, each leaflet 5-10 cm long and 3-5 cm broad. The whole leaf is downy-pubescent, and a somewhat brighter, yellower green than many other tree leaves. The flowers are inconspicuous yellow-green catkins produced in spring at the same time as the new leaves appear. The fruit is a nut, produced in bunches of 2-6 together; the nut is oblong-ovoid, 3-6 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, surrounded by a green husk before maturity in mid autumn.

Butternuts killed by butternut canker

The Butternut is seriously threatened by an introduced canker disease, caused by the fungus Sirococcus clavigigenti-juglandacearum. In some areas, 80% of the Butternut trees have been killed.

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Uses

The nuts are usually used in baking and making candies, having an oily texture and pleasant flavor. The husks are also used to make a yellowish dye.

Butternut wood is light and takes polish well, but is of much lower quality than Black Walnut wood. It is often used to make furniture.

Butternut, as a color, refers to a light yellowish brown. For instance, the color of a cooked butternut squash. Many soldiers of the Confederate States Army in the American Civil War wore uniforms in this color and were sometimes referred to as "butternuts".

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