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Cucurbita moschata - Butternut
Butternut, commonly known as Juglans cinerea or white walnut, is a species of walnut native to the eastern United States and southeast Canada.
Description
Butternut is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m (66 ft) tall, rarely 40 m (130 ft). Butternut is a slow-growing species, and rarely lives longer than 75 years. It has a 40–80 cm (16–31 in) stem diameter, with light gray bark.
The leaves are pinnate, 40–70 cm (16–28 in) long, with 11–17 leaflets, each leaflet 5–10 cm (2–4 in) long and 3–5 cm (1 1⁄4–2 in) broad. The whole leaf is downy-pubescent, and a somewhat brighter, yellower green than many other tree leaves.Butternut flowers from April to June, depending upon location, about the same time as the new leaves appear.
The fruit is a lemon-shaped nut, produced in bunches of two to six together.
Common name
- English - Butternut
- kannada - ಬೂದುಕುಂಬಳಕಾಯಿ
Uses
- It is often used to make furniture, and is a favorite of woodcarvers.
- Butternut bark and nut rinds were once often used to dye cloth to colors between light yellow and dark brown. To produce the darker colors, the bark is boiled to concentrate the color.
- Butternut bark has mild cathartic properties and was once used medicinally in place of jalap, a more expensive cathartic which was imported from Mexico.
- During the American Revolution, a butternut extract made from the inner bark of the tree was used in an attempt to prevent smallpox, and to treat dysentery and other stomach and intestinal discomfort.
