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Juglans nigra L.

Black Walnut

Modern name

Juglans nigra L.

A tree 80 to over 100 ft high, with a wide-spreading head and a tall dark trunk, with deeply furrowed bark; young shoots downy. Leaves 1 to 2 ft long, composed of eleven to twenty-three leaflets, the terminal odd one often absent; leaflets fragrant when rubbed, 2 to 5 in. long, 34 to 2 in. wide, ovate or oblong lance-shaped, obliquely rounded at the base, long and taper-pointed, unevenly toothed, glossy and glabrous above except when quite young, downy beneath; common stalk minutely downy. Male catkins 2 to 4 in. long. Fruits globose or slightly tapered at the base, solitary on the stalk or in pairs, 112 to 2 in. thick, not downy. Nuts 1 to 112 in. across, broader than long.

Native of the eastern and central United States; introduced early in the 17th century. Next to the common walnut this is the best known in the genus. Its nuts are of no value as food, but it is a more ornamental tree than J. regia, thriving almost as well in the south-eastern parts of this country as in any of its native haunts. As a young tree the black walnut is particularly handsome, with its shapely pyramidal habit and large pinnate leaves. One of the most valuable of the world’s timber trees, it is now becoming rare in the wild.

The magnificent tree in Marble Hill Park, Twickenham, mentioned in previous editions, measures 88 × 1634 ft (1968); when Elwes measured it in 1905 its dimensions were 98 × 1414 ft. At Mote Park, Maidstone, Kent, he measured a tree of 101 × 1212 ft in the same year; there is still a fine spreading specimen there but its measurements are 74 × 12 ft (1965). The following are some of the other notable specimens recorded recently (the measurements dating from the 1950s were made by the late Maynard Greville): Kew, 72 × 1014 ft (1967); Syon House, London, 70 × 1634 ft (taller until recently shortened) (1967), and two others of lesser girth; Albury House, Surrey, 82 × 1412 ft (1968); Much Hadham Rectory, Herts, pl. c. 1820, 80 × 1934 ft., with a bole of 9 ft (1964); Stansted Hall, Essex, 60 × 16 ft (1951); Hatfield Forest, Takely, Essex, 105 × 14 ft (1952); Hartwell House, Aylesbury, Bucks, 99 × 1312 ft (1957); University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, 75 × 934 ft (1969); Pusey House, Oxon, 90 × 1512 ft a superb tree (1968); Oxford Botanic Garden, 88 × 934 ft, (1970); Hartwell House, Aylesbury, Bucks, 99 × 1312 ft (1957); Corsham Court, Wilts, 77 × 1314 ft (1965); Middle Woodford Rectory, Wilts, pl. c. 1820, 70 × 1412 ft (1967). A tree at Brahan Castle, Ross and Cromarty, measures 60 × 934 ft (1970), a remarkable size for such a northern locality.

cv. ‘Alburyensis’. – An interesting variation from the type grows at Albury Park, near Guildford; this bears its fruits in clusters like J. cinerea, sometimes as many as six together, and it is also distinct in its pendulous branches. This tree measures 70 × 1112 ft (1966).



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Marble Hill, Twickenham, London, 98 × 1414 ft in 1905, now 90 × 1734 ft (1983); Kew, 82 × 1134 ft (1981); Battersea Park, London, 108 × 10 ft (1983); Mote Park, Maidstone, Kent, in field, a superb tree of 95 × 1912 ft (1984) – this is probably the tree measured as 101 × 1212 ft in 1905; Chilham Castle, Kent, pl. c. 1820, 100 × 13 ft (1983); Old Rectory, Much Hadham, Herts., 118 × 21 ft (1984); Hatfield Forest, Takely, Essex, 92 × 1412 ft (1974); Hartwell House, Aylesbury, Bucks., 85 × 14 ft (1972); Bisham Abbey, Bucks., 100 × 814 ft in 1906, now 112 × 1312 ft (1983); Oxford Botanic Garden, 100 × 11 ft (1983); Garendon Hall, Leics., this tree was felled in 1980; University Botanic Garden, Cambridge, 80 × 1034 ft (1984); Corsham Court, Wilts., 80 × 14 ft (1985); Killerton, Devon, 85 × 12 ft (1980); Brahan Castle, E. Ross, 60 × 934 ft (1970).

Genus

Juglans

Other species in the genus