Black Walnut

Juglans nigra

Black Walnut

The Black Walnut tree is Native from New England all the way down the east coast and over to Texas. It is a tall deciduous tree reaching heights of up to 75 feet. It is prized for its timber and has an elegant grain with a very hard yet workable texture making it perfect for furniture making, floors and other fine carpentry including its use to fabricate gunstock. A 50-foot tree can be valued at up to $2500 for its wood. The nuts provide a robust, distinctive, natural flavor and crunch as a food ingredient. Members of this family of trees produce a chemical called juglone, which is an example of an allelopathic compound, a substance that is synthesized by one type of plant and affects the growth of another. Landscapers have long known that gardening underneath or near Black Walnut trees can be difficult. Ancient Greeks and Romans called black walnut fruit the “imperial nut” and reportedly used the hull to treat intestinal ailments. Black Walnut has also played a part in Russia since the seventeenth century. Throughout history, every part of the tree has been used in folk extracts or products to treat dozens of conditions, including the bite of a mad dog.