Walnut family
Juglandaceae

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Walnut family

Juglandaceae

クルミ科

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A family of large deciduous trees including walnuts, hickories, and pecans. Key identifying features are pinnately compound leaves and drupes (nuts) containing large edible seeds. About 10 genera and 50 species are distributed in temperate to tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere; Japanese walnut (Juglans mandshurica) is native to Japan.

Key Characteristics

  • Mostly pinnately compound leaves, often aromatic
  • Flowers are unisexual; male flowers form pendulous catkins
  • Fruit is a drupe with fleshy or dry exocarp and a hard endocarp (shell)
  • Mostly large deciduous trees

Morphological Traits

A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.

Leaf arrangement

Alternate / Opposite

Leaf type

Compound

Venation

Pinnate

Leaf margin

Entire

Growth form

Shrub / Tree

Evergreen/Deciduous

Deciduous

Compound type

Ternate / Pinnate

Stipules

Absent

Aromatic

Aromatic

Petal count

3 petals

Ovary position

Inferior

Stamen count

1-2

Plant sex

Dioecious / Monoecious

Phylogenetic Position

Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Fagales > Juglandaceae

Divergence Era

Late Cretaceous to Paleogene (about 90–70 million years ago)

Representative Genera

クルミ属(Juglans)ヒッコリー属(Carya)サワグルミ属(Pterocarya)エンゲルハルディア属(Engelhardia)

Related Evolution Events

  • Adaptive evolution toward mammal dispersal through large nuts
  • Independent evolution of wind pollination within Fagales
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Plants in Walnut family on this site

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