American Butternut

Also labeled the White Walnut, the American Butternut, is a long-lived, slow-growing, shade tree that is a member of the Walnut family. This tree grows along the eastern US where the climate is just right for it to produce a sweet and buttery-flavored nut with an incredibly high protein value. The tree also produces other valued commodities, as its sap is used to produce syrup, its wood used as craft-wood and nuts used for their oils.

In 1967, foresters noticed a canker caused by an introduced fungus, which infects butternut trees. This disease spread rapidly throughout its entire range in the eastern US. As a result of this infection, the US Fish and Wildlife Service nominated the American Butternut as the first tree species candidate for the Endangered Species List.