South Dakota Trees: Black Walnut

Black Walnut with spring leaves—its "yearly trick of looking new" (Philip Larkin, The Trees). Union Grove State Park, South Dakota.

Walnuts from a previous year, still unopened. Is extreme toughness adaptive?

Continuing my quest to get to know South Dakota's trees, I chose Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) for this month's tree-following. It's native to the state but barely, probably just in the far east. This is another deciduous hardwood that's common ...