BLACK WALNUT (Juglans)
FAMILY - Walnut (Juglandaceae)
OTHER NAMES - Common Black Walnut, Walnut Tree, Texas Walnut, California
Walnut, Walnut.
DESCRIPTION - The black walnut is a strong and durable tree, often 50 to 100
feet and sometimes I SO feet high and bringing the top prices of any native
wood, with a close-grained trunk from 2 to 5 feet across. The
prominently furrowed bark is a dark, rich brown, the ridges being dull
instead of shiny.
The large, compound leaves, 12 to 24 inches long, are composed of from about
13 to 23 leaflets apiece. Crushed, they emit a spicy odor. These somewhat
ovally lancehead-shaped leaflets, from two to four
inches long and about half as wide, have sharply sawtoothed rims and pointed
tips. Yellowish green on top, they are lighter colored and ordinarily hairy
underneath.
The black walnut is sometimes mistaken for its cousin, the butternut. One
difference is that the butternut has, instead, 11 to 17 leaflets to each
compound leaf. The bark is grey. The pitch, light brown inthe black walnut,
is dark brown in the butternut. Too, walnuts are round with a smooth husk.
Butternuts are elongated with a hairy and sticky husk. The terminal bud in
the walnut is as broad as it is long. In the butternut, it is longer than it
is wide. A hairy fringe is visible above the leaf scar in the butternut,
although none occurs in the black walnut.
During the warm days of summer the nuts of the black walnut, covered with a
warty and greenish husk, become two to three inches in diameter.
Incidentally, although certainly unsporting and illegal, these bruised nut
husks can be used to kill fish for food, something to remember if starvation
is ever imminent in a survival situation.
Growing alone and in pairs, the nuts ripen about October, soon thereafter
falling from the widely spreading branches. Underneath this husk is the
familiar globular nut, varying up to some two inches across. Sculptured bony
shells, as everyone knows, surround the furrowed, deeply corrugated, sweet,
four-celled nuts.
The hardest part about gathering and using wild walnuts is getting off the
husks with their indelible, brownish dye. When we were youngsters we didn't
mind this and, just stamping on the husks and breaking
them off with bare fingers, we collected stained hands that defied parental
scrubbings for weeks. Among adults, gloves are a more usual precaution. A
knife will remove the green hides. Some pioneers also early discovered that
if they spread the freshly gathered nuts in the sun until they partially
dried, the husks were easily shucked off. The wetly stained nuts were then
spread out to dry and lose bitterness until they were ready to be cracked
open.
To locate the trees in the winter, look for light-brown to orange-brown
twigs with small breathing pores. The pith is large, chambered, and
light-brown in color. The alternate, heart-shaped leaf scars are
three-lobed, with a notch along the top rim which has a tiny lateral bud in
it. Ordinarily another bud is located directly above this, being about 'A
inch long, broadly egg-shaped, and blunt. The lateral buds are far smaller
and are roundish, all the buds being covered with silky, grey, short hairs.
The trunk bark is dark brown or almost black, with deeply cut, roughly
diamond-shaped furrows and rounded ridges.
DISTRIBUTION - Six of the world's dozen species of Juglans are native to the
U.S. In addition to the common black walnut (Juglans nigra) whose range
extends throughout much of the East and partially into the Prairie States,
there are two species of black walnuts in the Southwest and two more in
California. Too, there is the Northeast's closely related white walnut, or
butternut, to be considered elsewhere.
EDIBILITY- The red-bellied woodpecker and several species of squirrels eat
the nuts, while some beaver gnaw on the wood when they get the chance.
Those of the sweet and somewhat oily kernels that are not eaten on the spot
are much in demand for cakes, candies, and salads because of their strong
and distinctive taste. A 100 grams of black walnut kernels
have a hearty 628 calories, 20.5 grams of protein, and 59.3 of fat, while
boasting nearly 15 grams of carbohydrates. The same edible portion contains
phosphorus, 460 mg. of potassium, and 300 international
units of Vitamin A, plus 22 mg. of thiamine, . 11 ofriboflavin, and .7 of
niacin.
--
Jesse Gomez Jr
In Beautiful Norway
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