ABSTRACT
This chapter provides information on the uses, folk medicine, chemistry, germplasm, distribution, ecology, cultivation, harvesting, yields, energy, and biotic factors of Butternut. Butternut grown primarily for its nuts, used fresh, roasted, or salted, in confectioneries, pastries, and for flavoring. Narragansett Indians called the butternut 'wussoquat' and used the nuts to thicken their pottage. Amerindians ate butternuts raw, cooked, or ground into a meal for baking in cakes. Iroquois used seed oil for cooking and as a hair dressing. Nuts were combined with maple sugar in New England to make maple-butternut candy. Butternut bark is used for fevers and as a mild cathartic. Butternut bark contains resinoid juglandin, juglone, juglandic acid, and an essential oil. Reported from the North America Center of Diversity, butternut is reported to tolerate bacteria, fungus, limestone, poor soil, slope, and weeds. Butternut is a rather rapid-growing tree; however, it begins to deteriorate when it reaches medium size.
