Black Walnut (Juglans nigra)
The Black Walnut is well known for its use in carpentry and construction. It can resist high amounts of weathering making it a good candidate for telephone poles, fencing, and outdoor parts of homes like windowsills and shingles. Black walnuts in a forested area grow straight up, and can be 50ft or taller with no lower branches. However when they grow in open fields they can have many low branches that can stretch out up to 100ft.
The walnut tree produces and drops walnuts, which have been eaten for centuries by humans. The nuts are incased in a hard outer shell protects the nut throughout the winter. Animals such as deer and squirrel also enjoy these nuts.
Something very special about the Black Walnut is that it has something called “juglone”; it is a substance that the tree releases in the soil around it, changing the soil so that only Black Walnuts can grow around it. Only certain grasses and certain ground cover can grow around them due to this unique ability.
Black Walnut leaves and nut
Mature Black Walnut tree
References
- Lohmiller, G., & Lohmiller, B. (n.d.). Black Walnut Trees: The Roots of Evil. Retrieved October 22, 2014, from http://www.almanac.com/content/black-walnut-trees-roots-evil
- Image Source: http://www.2020site.org/trees/walnut-tree.html
Report By: Nathan Hodnichak