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Juglans californica

(California Walnut)

Overview

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Vulnerable

Threat status

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

California Walnut, Northern California Black Walnut, California Black Walnut, S California Black Walnut, Southern California walnut, Southern California Black Walnut, Southern California Walnut

Common Names in Spanish:

Nogal De California

Common Names in unspecified:

Southern California Walnut

Description

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Family Juglandaceae

Trees or rarely shrubs , deciduous, semievergreen, or evergreen , monoecious or rarely dioecious; bark tight (or exfoliating) . Branchlets with solid or chambered pith . Terminal buds subglobose or ovoid to oblong , naked or with scales . Stipules absent. Leaves alternate (or opposite), odd- or even-pinnate, sometimes trifoliolate , rarely simple ; leaflets with glandular , peltate scales, often resinous and aromatic , particularly conspicuous abaxially on young leaves and twigs , margin serrate or rarely entire. Inflorescences pendulous or sometimes erect , lateral or terminal, on reduced shoots arising on branchlets of previous year (old growth) or on current year’s growth (new growth), of several types: androgynous panicle with male, lateral spikes and female, central spike; androgynous panicle with male, mainly lateral spikes and female, central spike male at apex; cluster of male spikes and solitary female spike; or solitary male and female spikes. Flowers unisexual , anemophilous , rarely entomophilous. Male flowers subtended by an entire or 3-lobed bract; bracteoles 2 or absent; sepals 0-4, adnate to receptacle when present; stamens 3-40(-100), inserted on receptacle; filaments short to nearly absent, free or united at base ; anthers glabrous or pubescent , 2-loculed, dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers with an entire or 3-lobed bracts; bracteoles 2 or 3 (or absent) ; sepals 0-4, adnate to ovary, free at apex; gynoecium of 2 carpels united into an inferior ovary , 1-loculed, but at base 2-4(-8) -loculed; style 1, short or elongate , rarely absent; stigmas 2, carinal or commissural , sometimes 4-lobed, plumose or fleshy ; ovule 1, orthotropous . Fruiting spike elongate, and pendulous or short and erect, rarely conelike. Fruit a drupelike nut, 2-4(-8) -chambered at base, with a dehiscent or indehiscent husk , or a 2- or 3-winged or disc-winged nutlet . Seed solitary, without endosperm. Cotyledons 4-lobed, much contorted. Germination hypogeal or epigeal. 2n = (28), 32, (64) .

Nine genera and 60 or more species: mostly in temperate and subtropical regions of the N hemisphere; seven genera (one endemic) and 20 species (seven endemic, one introduced ) in China.[1]

Genus Juglans

Shrubs or trees , 3-50 m. Bark light to dark gray or gray-brown, smooth or split into ridges or plates . Twigs purplish brown, terete , stout, sparsely to densely covered with glands and capitate-glandular hairs , sometimes also with scales or fasciculate hairs, early in season with multiradiate hairs; leaf scars triangular or 3-lobed, large; pith chambered . Bud scales valvate , densely hirsute . Leaves usually odd-, sometimes even-pinnate; petiole and rachis with indument as twigs. Leaflets 5-25, sessile or subsessile , often aromatic , uniform in size or median leaflets largest, (2.5-) 4.3-15(-17.5) × 0.8-6.5 cm; surfaces usually with nonglandular hairs (simple and/or fasciculate), glandular hairs, sessile glands, and/or scales, sometimes glabrous . Staminate catkins solitary from 2d-year twigs, sessile; stamens 7-50 per flower, glabrous or pilose . Pistillate flowers solitary or in terminal racemes . Fruits nuts enclosed in husks , not compressed ; husks thick, indehiscent; nuts tan, neither compressed nor angled , grooved , ridged , rugulose , or smooth; shells thick. Seeds sweet. x = 16.

Species 21: North America, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Eurasia .

Juglans is a very important source of edible nuts, dyes, and wood for cabinet work, furniture, and construction. Juglans regia Linnaeus, the walnut of commerce, is widely cultivated in California; it is easily distinguished from native species by its leaves with 5-11 broad, entire leaflets and nuts with thin rugulose shells, not grooved or ridged. Because of its sensitivity to native pathogens , J. regia is usually grown as stem-grafts on roots of native or hybrid walnuts (see discussion under J. hindsii). Occasional seedlings of J. regia have been reported from the vicinity of cultivated plants , but these seldom, if ever, live to maturity.

The growth form , bark, and fruit are important taxonomically in Juglans, but these usually are not available on herbarium specimens. As with many woody plants , the first one or two leaves of the season (i.e. , the lowermost leaves on the twig ) are sometimes atypical in structure, having broader, blunter leaflets. The fasciculate hairs on the veins normally have more rays than those on the blade . In addition to the types of hairs described below, small multiradiate hairs are found on the immature twigs, petioles, rachises, and midribs . They are usually gone when the leaf is fully expanded, but they may persist for a short time afterwards.[2]

Physical Description

Species Juglans californica

Shrubs or small trees , to 6-9 m. Bark light or medium gray, divided into rough plates . Twigs with distal edge of leaf scar notched , often shallowly so, glabrescent or bordered by poorly defined velvety patch ; pith brown. Terminal buds ovoid to ellipsoid , somewhat flattened, 5-6 mm. Leaves 15-24 cm; petiole 2-5 cm. Leaflets (9-) 11-15(-17), usually narrowly oblong-elliptic to lance-elliptic, occasionally lanceolate, symmetric or weakly falcate , 4.3-9.5 × 1.6-2.6 cm, margins finely serrate, apex rounded to acute; surfaces abaxially without tufts of hair in vein axils, abaxially and adaxially glabrous with scales but no hairs , main veins glandular , often sparsely so, leaflets without nonglandular hairs (except for multiradiate hairs early in season ) ; terminal leaflet well developed. Staminate catkins 5-14 cm; stamens 15-35 per flower; pollen sacs 0.6-1 mm. Fruits 1-3, globose , 2.1-3.5 cm, smooth , at first glandular, with scattered scales, soon glabrescent; nuts depressed-globose, 1.8-2.2(-2.5) cm, shallowly grooved , surface between grooves smooth. [source]

Juglans californica is the most distinctive western walnut, but some care must be taken in identifying it. The distinctive leaflet shape of J. californica is occasionally replicated by early-season leaves of other species. Furthermore, J. californica is distinctive in lacking simple and fasciculate hairs on the leaves, but like most other walnuts, multiradiate hairs are normally present on the young vegetative growth (stems, petioles, and midribs ) in the spring . The hairs are usually deciduous early in the growing season . They have short (0.1-0.2 mm), crisped rays and are never clustered or especially associated with vein axils. The fasciculate hairs found in all of our other species (except sometimes J. microcarpa ) are persistent , have longer (0.3-0.4 mm), straight rays, and are concentrated in clusters abaxially in the axils of the main lateral veins. [source]

Habit: Tree , Shrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: February, March, April, May. • Flower Color: chartreuse, yellow-green

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 20-30' tall.

Habitat

Hillsides and canyons ; 30-900 m [3].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 1,278 meters (0 to 4,193 feet).[4]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 30-40' apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.1 • Maximum pH: 6.5

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun .

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Juglans rupestris Engelm. ex Torr. var. major Torr.

Notes

Publishing author : S.Watson Publication : Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts x . (1875) 349.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Juglans

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 82 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

J. ailanthifolia (Japanese Walnut) · J. ailanthifolia var. cordiformis (Heartnut) · J. ailantifolia (Japanese Walnut) · J. australis (Nogal Criollo) · J. bixbyi (Bixby Walnut) · J. boliviana (Bolivian Walnut) · J. californica (Northern California Black Walnut) · J. californica S.Watson var. californica S.Watson (Southern California Black Walnut) · J. californica var. californica (California Walnut) · J. cinerea (Butternut) · J. cinerea 'Bountiful' (Butternut) · J. cinerea 'Loumis' (Butternut) · J. cordiformis 'Campbell Cw1' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Campbell Cw3' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Campbell Cww' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Frank' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Imshu' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Locket' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Marvel' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Mitchell Hybrid' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Rhodes' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Simcoe' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Stealth' (Heartnut) · J. cordiformis 'Wright' (Heartnut) · J. hindsii (Northern California Black Walnut) · J. illinoinensis (Pecan) · J. intermedia (Intermediate Walnut) · J. jamaicensis (Walnut) · J. major (Arizona Black Walnut) · J. mandshurica (Manchurian Walnut) · J. microcarpa (Little Walnut) · J. microcarpa var. microcarpa (Little Walnut) · J. microcarpa var. stewartii (Stewarts Little Walnut) · J. microcarpa var. stewartii (I.M.Johnst.) W.Manning (Stewart's Little Walnut) · J. microcarpa subsp. major (Little Walnut) · J. neotropica (Andean Walnut) · J. nigra (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Beineke 11' (Black Walnut 'beineke 11') · J. nigra 'Black Gem' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Daniels' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Emma Kay' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Football 2' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Krause' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Kwik Krop' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Laciniata' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Lamb's Curly' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Ridgeway' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Rowher' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Sauber 1' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Schrieber' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Sparrow' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Surprise' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Thomas Black' (Black Walnut) · J. nigra 'Thomas Myers' (Black Walnut) · J. regia (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia var. Carpathian (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Allegheny' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Bedco 1' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Broadview' (Dwarf English Walnut) · J. regia 'Cascade' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Champion' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'China-B' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Coble #2' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Colby' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Greenhaven' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Hansen' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Kaiser' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Ky Giant' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Lake' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Looking Glass' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Mckinster' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Northern Prize' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Perry' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Purpurea' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Reda' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'S-1' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Shiawassee' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Somers' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. regia 'Utah Giant' (Carpathian Walnut) · J. × bixbyi (Bixby Walnut) · J. x intermedia (Intermediate Walnut) · J. 'Royal' (Walnut)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 01, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Anmin Lu, Donald E. Stone & L. J. Grauke "Juglandaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 277. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. Alan T. Whittemore & Donald E. Stone "Juglans". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. "Juglans californica". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  4. Mean = 158.660 meters (520.538 feet), Standard Deviation = 416.210 based on 41 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012