VALUE AND USE
SPECIES: Juglans cinerea | Butternut 



WOOD PRODUCTS VALUE : 
Butternut is not an important lumber species.  The wood is soft and
suitable only for a few uses such as interior finishing, furniture,
cabinet work, and small household woodenware [14].


IMPORTANCE TO LIVESTOCK AND WILDLIFE : 
Butternut fruit provides food for squirrels and other rodents
[4,30].


PALATABILITY : 
Butternut leaves are palatable to white-tailed deer [30].


NUTRITIONAL VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


COVER VALUE : 
NO-ENTRY


VALUE FOR REHABILITATION OF DISTURBED SITES : 
Butternut has been recommended for planting on surface mined areas in
the Northeast [6].


OTHER USES AND VALUES : 
Several cultivars have been selected for nut size and for ease of
cracking and extracting kernels.  Nuts are especially popular in New
England for making maple-butternut candy [24].

An iodinelike yellow dye can be extracted from the fruit husks and bark,
and the root bark provides a laxative [14].


MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS : 
Within its optimum range and on good sites, butternut is usually
considered a desirable component of forest stands.  It has been
classified as a "less desirable tree" in southern Appalachian coves
[1,13,19].

The most serious disease of butternut is butternut decline or butternut
canker.  The causal organism of this disease is the fungus Sirococcus
clavigignenti-juglandocearum.  Symptoms include dying branches and
stems.  Spores develop on these dying branches and are spread by
rainwater to tree stems.  Stem cankers develop 1 to 3 years after
branches die.  Trees top-killed by stem-girdling cankers do not resprout
[24].  This disease is reported to have almost eliminated butternut from
North and South Carolina [2,18,25].

Related categories for Species: Juglans cinerea | Butternut