Juglans jamaicensis

Juglans jamaicensis, the West Indian walnut, nogal, or palo de nuez, is a species of walnut in the Juglandaceae family. It is found in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Puerto Rico. It is not, in fact, native to Jamaica, as its name would suggest.[1]

Juglans jamaicensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Juglandaceae
Genus: Juglans
Section: Juglans sect. Rhysocaryon
Species:
J. jamaicensis
Binomial name
Juglans jamaicensis
C. DC.

This is a large tree which can reach 25 m (82 ft) in height. The compound leaves are each made up of several lance-shaped, toothed leaflets up to 9 centimeters long. Trees bear male and female inflorescences, the male a catkin up to 11 centimeters long and the female an array of flowers at the end of a newly grown shoot. The fruit is a drupe roughly 2 to 3 centimeters long with a black husk and a seed, which is an edible walnut meat, inside.[2]

In Puerto Rico there are only ten[1] to fourteen[2] trees of this species remaining. It is also rare in Cuba and Hispaniola.[1]

It is threatened by habitat loss. It may never have been common, but specimens were likely lost when forest was cleared for coffee plantations on Puerto Rico, and it was probably harvested for wood.[2] The attractive wood is similar to that of the black walnut (Juglans nigra).[3]

This tree has protection under the Endangered Species Act of the United States, where it is listed as an endangered species.[2]

References
  1. World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. Juglans jamaicensis. 2010 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Archived 27 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downloaded on 20 April 2011.
  2. USFWS. Determination of endangered status for Juglans jamaicensis. Federal Register 13 January 1997.
  3. Francis, J. K. and S. Alemany. (1994). Juglans jamaicensis C. DC. USDA Forest Service, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, New Orleans, LA, USA.


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