Tree of the week

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Good morning. These are the days for New Year’s resolutions. As 2008 is an Olympic year, I resolve to learn how to swim.

I hope some of you out there are resolving to do your small part toward civic beautification by planting a tree. And I hope you will use my tree-loving friend, Pieter Severynen, as a resource. Here is Pieter’s Tree of the Week:

The Southern California Black Walnut – Juglans californica var. californica

‘After a year of almost no rain, our native walnut trees were stressed, but they still managed to keep looking graceful and to hang in there without any irrigation. In contrast the more formal looking English walnut, Juglans regia, with its larger, lush leaves and bigger fruit, familiar from the store, needs regular water. The SCBW prefers to grow on moist sites, northern slopes, and in streamside woodlands accompanied by oak or cottonwood. It grows into a small 15-30’ tall and wide deciduous tree. After a fire new growth will sprout from the root crown or trunk and thus the tree often develops several trunks, which are dark gray brown and covered with deeply furrowed bark. The feathery, 6-12” long compound leaves feature some 9-19 2 ½” long leaflets. The tree is resistant to oak root fungus. The fruit, green when young, black when ripe, contains a single walnut, with a hard shell and tasty if little meat. But it was a favorite food of the local Chumash Indians who did not enjoy the luxury of supermarket shopping. It also supports a variety of wildlife.

‘Our SCBW tree is often used in native low maintenance plantings. Because of human population pressure it is declining in its natural range. Still it is doing better than its larger cousin up north, the Northern California Black Walnut, Juglans californica var. hindsii, of which only two native stands remain, although it has become naturalized in other areas. The northerner is used as a rootstock for the English walnut while that rootstock itself is the source for walnut burl in expensive furniture.’

Thanks Pieter, for this and all your contributions this year.
Email Pieter: plseve@earthlink.net.
Photo Credit: csupomona.edu