Juglans cinerea L.

vernacular butternut — species · Juglandaceae

USDA: JUCI
GBIF: 3054352
Rank: species

butternut (Juglans cinerea) — Platephotograph · Dan MullenCC BY-NC-ND source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Juglandaceae DC. ex Perleb
Genus: Juglans

§2a

Native status, by region

CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 2 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 2 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Low
Shade: High
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Low
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: None
Hedging: Low

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -33 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 105 min.
Precipitation: 25–80 in/yr
pH range: 6–7
Root depth: 40 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 80 ft
Height @ 20 y: 20 ft
Foliage texture: Coarse
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Green
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: Slight

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Fall
Seed ends: Winter
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 30
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: Yes
Lumber: Yes
Fuelwood: High
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 2 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 2 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/JUCI ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3054352 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z