The Butternut Tree (Juglans cinerea)

Today I'm going to talk about the Butternut, which is also more formally known as the White Walnut tree.  This tree is an endangered species in Canada.  It grows fairly widely in the US, where is it also endangered.  Even though it is endangered here in Canada, butternut trees grow quite commonly in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and in parts of New Brunswick (especially the Saint John river valley).  The problem is that the population is diminishing, when if anything, it should be expanding in range (due to climate change).  Butternut prefers a slightly cooler climate than black walnut, hence why it is more common to find in parts of Canada.

Here's a photo of a very large butternut tree:

 

Here's a range map for this species, courtesy of Wikipedia:

 

Butternut grows best on stream banks and in well-drained soils.  Like black walnut, the butternut is a pioneer species which needs open sunlight.  Butternut trees are quite shade intolerant, so you won't find them deep in a mature forest.  It will last for almost a century in mixed forests where it is part of the over-story, but young trees do not want to grow under the canopy.

Like black walnuts, the nuts are edible.  They're very tasty, and [not surprisingly] have more of a buttery taste than black walnuts (hence the name).  The shells are encased in a soft sticky husk.  These shells are hard to crack, but not as difficult as black walnuts.  The resulting nut, when you get it out of the shell, is about the same size as a pecan.

Here's a photo showing a cracked shell of a butternut:

 

The leaf of a butternut is a large one, which typically has 11-17 smaller leaflets on it.  Like the black walnut, many people are confused by the individual leaflets and think they're the leaves.  On the butternut, the terminal leaflet at the tip of the leaf is usually quite large.  This is distinctly helpful to aid in contrasting the leaves with those of black walnut (which are small at the tip of the leaf).  Here's a photo of a butternut leaf:

 

The butternut is especially susceptible to a fungus which is killing trees all over North America.  This is why it is currently endangered.  The butternut trees in New Brunswick are thought to be slightly more resistant to this fungus, but they're still susceptible.  Several organizations and groups in New Brunswick are trying to help save this tree.  Here's a CBC article that is relevant:

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/butternut-tree-miramichi-vikings-extinct-research-scientist-new-brunswick-1.4143430

Here are some Fun Facts about the butternut:

1.  The fattest known butternut is located in Oneida, New York state.  The circumference of the trunk at breast height was 24 FEET when measured a few years ago.  That's a 7.3 meter circumference.  Massive.

2.  Butternut wood is prized by furniture-makers, just like black walnut, although the wood is much softer to work with than black walnut.

3.  Butternut hybridizes easily with Japanese walnut.  This hybrid is called the buartnut and is more resistant to the fungus than a pure butternut.  The buartnut may become a commonly known tree in the future.

We'll leave you with a photo of some butternut seedlings, courtesy of Ontario's Silver Creek Nursery:

 

Thanks for reading!

- Jonathan Clark

www.replant-environmental.ca

Replant.ca Environmental is a Canadian company that plants trees for carbon capture and builds community forests.  We also plant trees in national, provincial, and municipal public parks to mitigate damage from wildfires, storms, insects, and forest diseases.  We operate thanks to numerous small contributions from the general public, in addition to larger project sponsorships from businesses and corporations around the world.  If you'd like to learn how to show your support, visit our donations page.  Even if you aren't able to make a contribution, we very much appreciate when people are able to share our posts or our website link on social media, to help spread the word about the work that we're doing!

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