Index of Species Information
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
Introductory
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
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:
https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/jugcin/all.html [].
ABBREVIATION :
JUGCIN
SYNONYMS :
NO-ENTRY
SCS PLANT CODE :
JUCI
COMMON NAMES :
butternut
white walnut
oilnut
TAXONOMY :
The currently accepted scientific name for butternut is Juglans cinerea
L. [16]. 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
[31].
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
substantiated [24].
LIFE FORM :
Tree
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
No special status
OTHER STATUS :
NO-ENTRY
DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
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
[3,26,30].
Butternut is cultivated in Hawaii [33].
ECOSYSTEMS :
FRES10 White - red - jack pine
FRES11 Spruce - fir
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory
FRES17 Elm - ash - cottonwood
FRES18 Maple - beech - birch
STATES :
AL AR CT DE GA HI IA IL IN KY
MA MD ME MI MN MO MS NC NH NJ
NY OH PA RI SC TN VA VT WI WV
NB ON PQ
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
NO-ENTRY
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
K095 Great Lakes pine forest
K096 Northeastern spruce - fir forest
K097 Southereastern spruce - fir forest
K099 Maple - basswood forest
K100 Oak - hickory
K101 Elm - ash forest
K102 Beech - maple forest
K103 Mixed mesophytic forest
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K106 Northern hardwoods
K107 Northern hardwoods - fir forest
K108 Northern hardwoods - spruce forest
K110 Northeastern oak - pine forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
SAF COVER TYPES :
14 Northern pin oak
20 White pine - northern red oak - red maple
21 Eastern white pine
22 White pine - hemlock
23 Eastern hemlock
24 Hemlock - yellow birch
25 Sugar maple - beech - yellow birch
26 Sugar maple - basswood
27 Sugar maple
28 Black cherry - maple
30 Red spruce - yellow birch
31 Red spruce - sugar maple - beech
32 Red spruce
33 Red spruce - balsam fir
34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
42 Bur oak
43 Bear oak
44 Chestnut oak
45 Pitch pine
46 Eastern redcedar
50 Black locust
51 White pine - chestnut oak
52 White oak - black oak - northern red oak
53 White oak
55 Northern red oak
57 Yellow poplar
59 Yellow poplar - white oak - northern red oak
60 Beech - sugar maple
62 Silver maple - American elm
108 Red maple
109 Hawthorn
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
NO-ENTRY
HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES :
NO-ENTRY
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE :
Butternut is not an important lumber species. The wood is soft and
suitable only for a few uses such as interior finishing, furniture,
cabinet work, and small household woodenware [14].
IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE :
Butternut fruit provides food for squirrels and other rodents
[4,30].
PALATABILITY :
Butternut leaves are palatable to white-tailed deer [30].
NUTRITIONAL VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
COVER VALUE :
NO-ENTRY
VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES :
Butternut has been recommended for planting on surface mined areas in
the Northeast [6].
OTHER USES AND VALUES :
Several cultivars have been selected for nut size and for ease of
cracking and extracting kernels. Nuts are especially popular in New
England for making maple-butternut candy [24].
An iodinelike yellow dye can be extracted from the fruit husks and bark,
and the root bark provides a laxative [14].
OTHER MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Within its optimum range and on good sites, butternut is usually
considered a desirable component of forest stands. It has been
classified as a "less desirable tree" in southern Appalachian coves
[1,13,19].
The most serious disease of butternut is butternut decline or butternut
canker. The causal organism of this disease is the fungus Sirococcus
clavigignenti-juglandocearum. Symptoms include dying branches and
stems. Spores develop on these dying branches and are spread by
rainwater to tree stems. Stem cankers develop 1 to 3 years after
branches die. Trees top-killed by stem-girdling cankers do not resprout
[24]. This disease is reported to have almost eliminated butternut from
North and South Carolina [2,18,25].
BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS :
Butternut is a small to medium-sized tree averaging 40 to 60 feet (12-18
m) in height and 12 to 24 inches (30-60 cm) in d.b.h. This tree has a
short trunk which is divided into a few ascending limbs with large
spreading, sparsely forked branches. The smaller branches tend to bend
downwards and then turn up at the ends. The crown is open, broad,
irregular in outline and rounded at the top. The root system is
composed of a number of wide-spreading laterals that grow to a
considerable depth. Usually a taproot develops in deep soils [7,21,24].
Butternut grows fast, especially as a seedling, but usually does not
live longer than 75 years [5,21,24].
RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM :
Mesophanerophyte
Microphanerophyte
REGENERATION PROCESSES :
Seed production and dispersal: Commercial seed-bearing age begins at 20
years and is optimum from 30 to 60 years. Good crops of seed can be
expected every 2 to 3 years. A high percentage of seeds are sound, but
high seed losses occur due to consumption by birds, insects, and
rodents. Natural pollination failures often occur due to the lack of
pollinated trees in immediate vicinity [4,24]. Upon ripening, seeds are
dispersed by gravity, squirrels, and other rodents. [9,24].
Vegetative propagation: Stumps of young butternut trees and saplings
can sprout [4,32].
SITE CHARACTERISTICS :
Butternut is found most frequently in coves, on stream benches and
terraces, on slopes, in the tallus of rock ledges, and on other sites
with good drainage [20,28]. It is found up to an elevation of 4,900
feet (1,500 m) in the Virginias [27,31]. In addition to those indicated
in the SAF cover type slot (Distribution and occurence), common tree
associates include black walnut (Juglans nigra), hickory (Carya spp.),
and white ash (Fraxinus americana) [1,3,20,21,24,27].
SUCCESSIONAL STATUS :
Although young trees can tolerate partial shade, butternut must be in
the overstory to thrive and is classified as intolerant to shade and
competition [11]. Like other members of the Junglandaceae family,
butternut produces a substance called juglone, a naphthoquinone that is
selectively toxic to associated vegetation. Greatest concentrations of
juglone are in root tissue and fruit husks, with lesser amounts in the
leaves, catkins, buds, and inner bark [24].
SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT :
Butternut flowers from April to June, depending on location. The fruit
matures in September and October and usually remains on the tree until
after leaf fall [4,12].
FIRE ECOLOGY
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
FIRE ECOLOGY OR ADAPTATIONS :
Butternut is very susceptible to fire. Aboveground portions are easily
killed by fire, and sprouting from the root crown or stump is rare
[24,32].
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
POSTFIRE REGENERATION STRATEGY :
survivor species; on-site surviving deep underground stems
off-site colonizer; seed carried by animals or water; postfire yr 1&2
FIRE EFFECTS
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea
IMMEDIATE FIRE EFFECT ON PLANT :
Butternut does not typically survive fires that destroy aboveground
plant parts [24].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF FIRE EFFECT :
NO-ENTRY
PLANT RESPONSE TO FIRE :
Butternut does not typically sprout after fire [22,24,32].
DISCUSSION AND QUALIFICATION OF PLANT RESPONSE :
NO-ENTRY
FIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Butternut grows well in mixed hardwood forests that have been protected
from fire [22]. A single hot fire or repeated cool fires can
effectively eliminate butternut in mixed hardwood stands [32].
References for species: Juglans cinerea
1. Beck, Donald E. 1988. Regenerating cove hardwood stands. In: Smith, H. Clay; Perkey, Arlyn W.; Kidd, William E., Jr., eds. Guidelines for regenerating Appalachian hardwood stands: Workshop proceedings; 1988 May 24-26; Morgantown, WV. SAF Publ. 88-03. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Books: 156-166. [13943]
2. Black, W. M.; Neely, Dan. 1978. Relative resistance of Junglans species and hybrids to walnut anthracnose. Plant Disease Reporter. 62(6): 497-499. [11559]
3. Braun, E. Lucy. 1961. The woody plants of Ohio. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press. 362 p. [12914]
4. Brinkman, Kenneth A. 1974. Juglans L. walnut. In: Schopmeyer, C. S., ed. Seeds of woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 454-459. [7684]
5. Chapman, William K.; Bessette, Alan E. 1990. Trees and shrubs of the Adirondacks. Utica, NY: North Country Books, Inc. 131 p. [12766]
6. Davidson, Walter H. 1988. Potential for planting hardwoods in the Appalachians. In: Smith, H. Clay; Perkey, Arlyn W.; Kidd, William E., Jr., eds. Guidelines for regenerating Appalachian hardwood stands: Workshop proceedings; 1988 May 24-26; Morgantown, WV. SAF Publ. 88-03. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Books: 255-268. [13951]
7. Duncan, Wilbur H.; Duncan, Marion B. 1988. Trees of the southeastern United States. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. 322 p. [12764]
8. Eyre, F. H., ed. 1980. Forest cover types of the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Society of American Foresters. 148 p. [905]
9. Fernald, Merritt Lyndon. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. [Corrections supplied by R. C. Rollins]. Portland, OR: Dioscorides Press. 1632 p. (Dudley, Theodore R., gen. ed.; Biosystematics, Floristic & Phylogeny Series; vol. 2) [14935]
10. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad, Ardell J.; Duncan, Don A.; [and others]. 1977. Vegetation and environmental features of forest and range ecosystems. Agric. Handb. 475. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p. [998]
11. George, David W.; Fischer, Burnell C. 1989. The effect of site and age on tree regeneration in young upland hardwood clearcuts. In: Rink, George; Budelsky, Carl A., eds. Proceedings, 7th central hardwood conference; 1989 March 5-8; Carbondale, IL. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-132. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station: 40-47. [9365]
12. Godfrey, Robert K. 1988. Trees, shrubs, and woody vines of northern Florida and adjacent Georgia and Alabama. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia Press. 734 p. [10239]
13. Gottschalk, Kurt W.; Twery, Mark J. 1989. Gypsy moth impacts in pine-hardwood mixtures. In: Waldrop, Thomas A., ed. Proceedings of pine-hardwood mixtures: a symposium on management and ecology of the type; 1989 April 18-19; Atlanta, GA. Gen. Tech. Rep. SE-58. Asheville, SC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station: 50-58. [10257]
14. Hosie, R. C. 1969. Native trees of Canada. 7th ed. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Forestry Service, Department of Fisheries and Forestry. 380 p. [3375]
15. Kuchler, A. W. 1964. Manual to accompany the map of potential vegetation of the conterminous United States. Special Publication No. 36. New York: American Geographical Society. 77 p. [1384]
16. Little, Elbert L., Jr. 1979. Checklist of United States trees (native and naturalized). Agric. Handb. 541. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 375 p. [2952]
17. Lyon, L. Jack; Stickney, Peter F. 1976. Early vegetal succession following large northern Rocky Mountain wildfires. In: Proceedings, Tall Timbers fire ecology conference and Intermountain Fire Research Council fire and land management symposium; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. No. 14. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 355-373. [1496]
18. Matheron, M. E.; Mircetich, S. M. 1985. Relative resistance of different rootstocks of English walnut to six Phytophthora spp. that cause root and crown rot in orchard trees. Plant Disease. 69(12): 1039-1041. [11544]
19. Morris, L. A.; Mollitor, A. V.; Johnson, K. J.; Leaf, A. L. 1979. Forest management of floodplain sites in the northeastern United States. In: Johnson, R. Roy; McCormick, J. Frank, technical coordinators. Strategies for protection & mgmt of floodplain wetlands & other riparian ecosystems: Proceedings of the symposium; 1978 December 11-13; Callaway Gardens, GA. Gen. Tech. Rep. WO-12. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 236-242. [4364]
20. Nowacki, Gregory J.; Abrams, Marc D.; Lorimer, Craig G. 1990. Composition, structure, and historical development of northern red oak stands along an edaphic gradient in north-central Wisconsin. Forest Science. 36(2): 276-292. [11787]
21. Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. 1953. Forest tree planting. 2d ed. Bull. No. R 1. Toronto, Canada: Ontario Department of Lands and Forests, Division of Reforestation. 68 p. [12130]
22. Pavlovic, Noel B.; White, Mark. 1989. Forest restoration of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial: presettlement, existing vegetation, and restoration management recommendations. Research/Resources Management Report MWR-15. Omaha, NE: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Midwest Region. 106 p. [15375]
23. Raunkiaer, C. 1934. The life forms of plants and statistical plant geography. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 632 p. [2843]
24. Rink, George. 1990. Juglans cinera L. Butternut. In: Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H., technical coordinators. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Hardwoods. Agric. Handb. 654. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 386-390. [16727]
25. Gartner, F. Robert; Thompson, Wesley W. 1973. Fire in the Black Hills forest-grass ecotone. In: Proceedings, annual Tall Timbers fire ecology conference; 1972 June 8-9; Lubbock, TX. No. 12. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station: 37-68. [1002]
26. Sander, Ivan L. 1990. Quercus rubra L. northern red oak. In: Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H., technical coordinators. Silvics of North America. Volume 2. Hardwoods. Agric. Handb. 654. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: 727-733. [13975]
27. Seischab, Franz K. 1990. Presettlement forests of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase in western New York. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 117(1): 27-38. [11383]
28. Smith, David W.; Suffling, R.; Stevens, Denis; Dai, Tony S. 1975. Plant community age as a measure of sensitivity of ecosystems to disturbance. Journal of Environmental Management. 3: 271-285. [10050]
29. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service. 1982. National list of scientific plant names. Vol. 1. List of plant names. SCS-TP-159. Washington, DC. 416 p. [11573]
30. Van Dersal, William R. 1938. Native woody plants of the United States, their erosion-control and wildlife values. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture. 362 p. [4240]
31. Voss, Edward G. 1985. Michigan flora. Part II. Dicots (Saururaceae--Cornaceae). Bull. 59. Bloomfield Hills, MI: Cranbrook Institute of Science; Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Herbarium. 724 p. [11472]
32. Ward, Jeffrey S.; Stephens, George R. 1989. Long-term effects of a 1932 surface fire on stand structure in a Connecticut mixed hardwood forest. In: Rink, George; Budelsky, Carl A., eds. Proceedings, 7th central hardwood conference; 1989 March 5-8; Carbondale, IL. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-132. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station: 267-273. [9389]
33. St. John, Harold. 1973. List and summary of the flowering plants in the Hawaiian islands. Hong Kong: Cathay Press Limited. 519 p. [25354]
FEIS Home Page
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