butternut

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Read Next

Plant seedlings emerging from rich fertile soil

Do Plants Feel Pain?

Britannica’s Flower Bingo

curly kale. Kale or borecole (Brassica oleracea Acephala Group) a loose leafed, edible plant derived from the cabbage. vegetable

Nutritional Powerhouses: 8 Foods That Pack a Nutritional Punch

Anemone coronaria, the poppy anemone, Spanish marigold, or windflower, is a species of flowering plant.

What’s the Difference Between Angiosperms and Gymnosperms?

Sunlight shining on leaves. Photosynthesis

What Does Photosynthesis Produce?

Discover

An ancient egyptian hieroglyphic painted carving showing the falcon headed god Horus seated on a throne and holding a golden fly whisk. Before him are the Pharoah Seti and the goddess Isis. Interior wall of the temple to Osiris at Abydos, Egypt.

11 Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Thanksgiving Celebration Traditional Dinner Setting Food Concept

Why Is Thanksgiving in the U.S. Celebrated on a Thursday?

A human Inuit skull in a stone chambered cairn in Ilulissat in Greenland. These ancient graves are pre christian and are at least 2000

14 Tough Questions Answered

Why Is Ireland Two Countries?

Woman tied to a ducking stool, a method of punishment by means of humiliation, beating, or death. (cucking stool)

8 Unusual Punishments Inflicted on Women Throughout History

Los Angeles Police Department wanted flyer on Elizabeth Short, aka the "Black Dahlia," who was brutally murdered in January 1947. The FBI supported the Los Angeles Police Department in the case, including by identifying Short through her fingerprints that

America’s 5 Most Notorious Cold Cases (Including One You May Have Thought Was Already Solved)

A Factory Interior, watercolor, pen and gray ink, graphite, and white goache on wove paper by unknown artist, c. 1871-91; in the Yale Center for British Art. Industrial Revolution England

Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution

butternut

tree and nut, Juglans cinerea

Also known as: Juglans cinerea

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Also called:: white walnut

Related Topics:: walnut; deciduous tree; nut

See all related content

butternut, (Juglans cinerea), deciduous nut-producing tree of the walnut family (Juglandaceae), native to eastern North America. The tree is economically important locally for its edible nuts and for a yellow or orange dye obtained from the fruit husks. Some substances in the inner bark of the roots are used in medicines.

A mature butternut tree has deeply furrowed gray bark and is about 15 to 18 metres (50 to 60 feet) tall with a trunk 30 to 60 cm (12 to 24 inches) in diameter. Each compound leaf, about 45 to 75 cm (18 to 30 inches) long, has 11 to 17 yellowish green leaflets that are hairy underneath. Chocolate-coloured partitions divide the pith of the twigs into many chambers. The egg-shaped fruit is a drupe and has a sticky greenish brown husk. The hard woody pit, which is not a true nut, bears many ridges and contains a sweet oily seed.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello.