Trees of Alabama and the Southeast Home Page

Leaves are alternate, deciduous and pinnately compound with 11-17 leaflets that are clammy-hairy to the touch.  Black walnut has up to 23 leaflets.  Leaflets are wider towards the middle, whereas black walnut leaflets are wider towards the base.  In contrast to black walnut, the rachis usually bears a terminal leaflet.  Twigs are stout with monkey-faced leaf scars showing hair on the upper edges (like a mustache) and a brown-purple chambered pith. Bark is light gray with gray-white ridges.  Nuts are elliptical, 4-ribbed, deeply corrugated, ridged, and enclosed by a hairy green, sticky, indehiscent husk.  Butternut is found on fertile, moist sites in the eastern U.S. but is of limited distribution now because of a canker disease. The wood is used for plywood and trim.

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All text and photographs are intended for educational purposes only and are not for commercial use in any form.  All photographs are copyrighted by the named photographer(s), text copyright by Lisa Samuelson. © 2005, all rights reserved. Photographs by Mike Hogan.