Common Name: Black Walnut
Scientific Name: Juglans nigra
Family: Juglandaceae
Origin: Eastern United States
The black walnut is a large tree growing to heights of around 75-100 feet tall with an oval and rounded crown. Leaves are around 24 inches long and are odd-pinnately compound. Each compound leaf usually contains around 13-24, oblong to lanceolate leaflets found in pairs running longitudinally along one main rachis (a long petal-like structure that each leaflet is attached to). When the leaves are crushed, they give off a strong odor unique to Juglans members. The tree produces yellow-green flowers in the late spring. Trees are monoecious with male flowers being hairy low-hanging catkins (tightly clustered same sex flowers that mostly lack petals and are usually wind pollinated) while female flowers grow in short terminal spikes. When pollinated, they produce nuts which lie inside neon green husks. The tree produces a chemical called juglone, which can be poisonous to other plants as well as animals, including humans.