Common Name: little walnut

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Tree

Wetland Status: FAC

General: Shrubs or short trees 3-10 m, bark gray and split into rough ridges.

Leaves: Pinnate with 17-25 lanceolate leaflets, each 5-6 cm long, 1 cm wide, margins entire or toothed with long, pointed tips, terminal leaflets small, sometimes with sparse hairs or scales, leaf axils often bearing tufts of hairs.

Flowers: Staminate catkins, 3-7 cm long.

Fruits: Fruits smooth and globose, with glandular hairs and grooved nuts within.

Ecology: Found along creeks and rivers, from 650-6,500 ft (200-2000 m); flowers March-April.

Notes: This species may hybridize with J. major resulting in larger leaflets, and is also thought to hybridize with J. nigra.

Ethnobotany: Specific use of species unknown, but uses for the genus include using the walnuts for food and using the juice to clear maggots from wounds and worms from dogs.

Etymology: Juglans is Latin for walnut, microcarpa means having small fruits or seed pods.

Synonyms: None

Editor: LCrumbacher, 2011