The Juglans Cinerea
is commonly known as Butternut
, as well as White Walnut< Go Back
Butternut is distributed from southeastern New Brunswick throughout the
New England States except for northern Maine and Cape Cod. Its range
extends south to include northern New Jersey, western Maryland,
Virginia, and Tennessee. Small isolated pockets occur in North
Carolina, northwestern South Carolina, northern Georgia, northern
Alabama, northern Mississippi, and Arkansas. Westward it is found in
eastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota. Disjunct populations occur in
Wisconsin, Michigan, and northeast into Ontario and Quebec. Throughout
most of its range, butternut is not a common tree and its frequency is
declining. The ranges of butternut and black walnut overlap, but
butternut occurs farther north than and not as far south as black walnut
Butternut is cultivated in Hawaii [33
The currently accepted scientific name for butternut is Juglans cinerea
]. Butternut and black walnut (Juglans nigra) are very similiar,
but can be distinguished by certain morphological differences.
Butternut has a pad of small dense hairs extending crosswise along the
upper margin of the old leaf scars; in black walnut this pad is absent.
The underside leaflets of butternut are densely covered with stellate
hairs, while in black walnut leaflet hairs are almost inconspicuous
Recognized hybrids are as follows [24
J. cinerea x J. regia = J. X quadrangulata
J. cinerea x J. ailantifolia = J. X bixbi
Reports of crosses between butternut and black walnut have not been
< Go Back
Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
Coladonato, Milo 1991. Juglans cinerea. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.