Butternut

Juglans cinerea

712 17th Street

Nominated: Coeur d’Alene Volkssport Club

The butternut, or white walnut, is a native of Eastern North America. "Cinerea" refers to ashy gray, the bark’s color. The husks of the nuts are over 3 inches long, felty and sticky; nuts are up to 2 inches long, very deeply grooved and jagged. Compared to its associate, the Black Walnut (J. nigra), this is a weaker, shorter-lived species. Its nuts really do taste buttery, and are the first to ripen of the North American Juglans. The inner bark has mild cathartic properties and was used in older times as an orange or yellow dye.

Records show trees growing to be 125 feet tall in the wild. This tree measures 60 feet tall ajd has a 68 foot crown spread.