The Butternut, juglans cinerea ©

 

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I was walking through Cazenovia Park recently when I found what I thought were wild Pecan trees, carya illinoinensis.  I would have been surprised to find Pecan trees in Western New York, since Pecans are southern trees and aren’t usually found this far north.  However the presence of Lake Erie, which is only about three miles away, sometimes skews typical growing ranges of trees and other plants. 

 

But when I started doing some research, I found that the trees I had encountered weren’t wild Pecan trees, instead they were Butternut trees, also known as White Walnut, and juglans cinerea.  My first clue were the nuts which had corrugated, linear ridges, the length of the elongated, cylindrical nut, and were surrounded by a sticky green, smooth hull, that earned it the nickname lemon-nut.  Pecan nuts are smooth and their hulls are divided into four parts.

 

The Butternut is a native hardwood related to Black Walnut, Juglans nigra, and other members of the walnut family.  Pecans and hickories belong to the exact same genus, Carya, and share the same plant family (Juglandaceae) commonly known as the walnut and hickory family.  

 

Butternut trees are medium-sized tree with alternate, pinnately compound leaves their nuts are a preferred food of squirrels and other wildlife.  Butternuts were collected and eaten by Native Americans  and early settlers, who also valued butternut for its workable, medium, brown-colored wood, and as a source of medicine, dyes, and sap sugar.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Butternut, juglans cinerea, What To Do With It”, where we will talk about with foraged butternuts.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

Sources

 

Amherst College, “Butternut (Juglans cinerea)”, https://www.amherst.edu/museums/naturalhistory/education/community-connections/amherst-college-wildlife-sanctuary/206---flora/node/803401, accessed Sep 12, 2026

 

International Dendrology Society, “Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch”, https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/carya/carya-illinoinensis/, accessed Sep 12, 2026

 

Wikimedia, “Juglans cinerea, Juglandaceae, Butternut, White Walnut, leaves and bark”, by H. Zell, July 13, 2009, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Juglans_cinerea_002.JPG, accessed Sep 12, 2026