| Black Gold |
| Location: Along path to
Molyet Village |
| This tree is one of the most
valuable trees in North America. It is a Black Walnut, Juglans nigra. They are
members of the Juglandaceae, the Walnut Family which also includes the
hickories. Black Walnut trees are valuable for their nuts as well as for their wood. The fruits of Black Walnut are really not nuts but what botanists call drupes. Peaches, apricots, cherries, and several other common fruits are drupes. A drupe has a thin skin, a thick juicy layer, and a very hard inner layer called the stone. Inside the stone is a single seed. The drupes of walnuts are bright green to the end of summer when they fall from the tree. The outer fleshy part turns black, rots away, and exposes the black stone... the walnut. Inside this hard stone is the seed. Walnuts are very nutritious. Low in saturated fats, high in unsaturated fats, and a source of protein (24.1 grams in the edible portion of 100 grams of Black Walnut food), the nutmeats are also a source of Vitamin A, iron, minerals, and fiber. Squirrels gather the stones (nuts), bury them, then forget where! This is how walnut trees are planted in nature. Lumber from walnut trees is very hard and can be used for solid wood furniture, wall paneling and interior trim, gunstocks, and high-quality veneer. Walnut has very dark brown heartwood (in the center of the log) and much lighter sapwood (to the outside, just under the bark. The beauty of this wood drives demand and makes it fairly expensive. Leaves are alternate, pinnately compound, 12 to 24 inches long with 10 to 24 leaflets. Black Walnut prefers deep, moist, rich, well-drained soils under sunny conditions, especially the bottomlands of rivers and streams. Walnuts will also tolerate rather dry soils but their growth will be slowed. The roots of Black Walnut produce a toxic substance known as juglone. This keeps other plants from growing close to walnut and competing with it. Many cultivated plants such as tomato, potato, blackberry, blueberry, azalea, mountain laurel, rhododendron, red pine and apple may be injured or killed within one to two months of growth within the root zone of these trees. Juglone can be toxic to horses (inflammation of hooves) and dogs. -- David Kramer
|
| Return
to top of Nature Sign List |
Return to D.
Kramer Web Site |