Juglans californica

Southern california black walnut, Southern California Black Walnut

Family: Juglandaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Southern california black walnut is a native shrub ranked 4.2 by CNPS, found in the Santa Lucia Range and southwestern California in hillsides and canyons at elevations of 30 to 900 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small greenish flowers in clusters. Growing with a trunk 6 to 9 meters tall, it develops a distinctive branching structure with multiple stems. Its compound leaves have 11 to 15 narrow elliptical leaflets 4 to 9.5 centimeters long, slightly serrated along the edges. The fruit is a thick-shelled walnut approximately 2 to 3.5 centimeters in diameter with shallow surface grooves.

Habitat: Hillsides and canyons

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 30-900 m

Bioregions: SCoRO (Santa Lucia Range where cult), SW (exc ChI, SnBr).

California counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Orange, Napa, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Lake, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Barbara, Tulare, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Inyo, Monterey, Sonoma, San Benito, Yolo, El Dorado

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.