The Butternut, also called the White Walnut, is a native member of the Walnut family that grows throughout the eastern U.S. This slow-growing tree takes its name from the hard, egg-sized, greenish-yellow nuts it produces every fall, a prized food of squirrels and other wildlife. Fruit is an elongated nut with hairy, non-splitting husk. The nut is four-ribbed, pointed at one end, sharaply furrowed, and contains a sweet, oily, edible kernel. The tree has dark green compound leaves, each with 13 to 23 leaflets. Bark is gray to ashy white and separates in wide flat ridges