Arizona Black Walnut
Juglans major
Family: Juglandaceae
OTHER NAMES
Spanish: nogal cimarrón
CHARACTERISTICS
Deciduous tree, 40-60’ with very aromatic foliage. This tree blooms May to June with green, inconspicuous flowers, followed by nuts that ripen October to December. In moister areas, the tree features a single, stout trunk; there are usually several slender trunks in drier situations.
LANDSCAPE USE
Large shade tree.
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN full to part sun
WATER regular to riparian water
SOIL not particular
BASIN low
CONTAINER can live in a container well, but will not attain full size
HARDINESS hardy to -10°F
FEEDING moderate
MAINTENANCE Plants can get anthracnose, a fungal issue that causes trees to blacken and drop their leaves prematurely. Though it looks like a serious issue at first, this fungus is purely a cosmetic issue. Keep plants healthy, they will grow out of the problem, even if the fungus causes the trees to go dormant prematurely. This problem occurs mostly on young trees.
ECOLOGY
Attracts birds and mammals, edible nuts, good nesting tree. Larval host for the Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus), Vestal Tiger Moth (Spilosoma vestalis), the Powdered Dagger (Acronicta impleta), the Fall Cankerworm Moth (Alsophila pometaria), and the American Copper Underwing (Amphipyra pyramidoides).
ETHNOBOTANY
Nutshells are used to make brown dye. Nuts are eaten by Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache, Hualapai, and Navajo. The Yavapai make a decoction of pulverized nut juice as a drink, trees used in building lodges by Mescalero.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
Along streams and in canyons in all counties in Arizona from 3,500-7,000 ft. in southwestern Utah, Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma; south into central Mexico.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the Juglandaceae, the walnut family. There are 23 species in the genus Juglans which range across the north temperate Old World from southeast Europe east to Japan, and more widely in the New World from southeast Canada west to California and south to Argentina.
The genus Juglans (literally "Jupiter's acorn") is the Latin name of the walnut, while the species, major, means primary or biggest, referring to its size compared to other species native in the region.
Arizona black walnut can become a massive tree if there is plenty of water. Photo by Jack Hanson, iNaturalist
The flowers are green and inconspicuous. Photo by Patrick Alexander, SEINET
The husk contains the walnut. Photo by Max Licher, SEINET
These nuts have already been cleaned of their meat. Photo by nasua, iNaturalist