And, since we're on the topic of nuts...

Protecting a Little-Known Tree From an Insidious Disease (New York Times)

Registration is of course required, and eventually it will retreat behind the great electronic subscribers-only wall.

I've touched on this disease before, but I'm always pleased to see these things getting a little play in the mainstream media. This link came via the NAFEX discussion list, and the poster (Lucky Pittman) noted that many of the "butternut" cultivars that have shown resistance have turned out to be hybrids with other Juglans species upon DNA analysis.

I'm curious to know if earlier anecdotal evidence of a correlation between bark type and resistance in wild trees has panned out (maybe the differences in bark type are the result of natural interspecific hybridization?)

Update: I just realized that the link in my previous butternut canker article to the Butternut Rescue Team website never had an address attached to it. I've fixed it there, and I might as well include it here as well: Butternut Rescue Team Homepage

Will the Butternut go the way of the American Chestnut?

A while back, I posted on the fate of the American chestnut, nearly annihilated by a fungal disease, and now, with the help of a dedicated group of scientists and hobbyists, making a slow comeback. The situation for the chestnut was, and to an extent, remains, pretty bleak, because the loss has been so thorough.

Sadly, a the same scenario seems to be playing out again with another American nut tree, the butternut (Juglans cinerea). Beginning in the late sixties, a new disease called Butternut Canker began to spread, and today over 80% of the butternut trees have already been lost. Still, the situation has not yet reached the point that the chestnut or the elm did, and the possibility remains that the butternut can be saved. Scientists have found evidence that resistant trees may exist, and that there may even be a particular bark phenotype associated with this resistance.

For those interested (particularly those in Ontario and Quebec where the most native butternut still survives), a handful of organizations are putting together a Butternut Rescue Team. Efforts to save the butternut are nowhere near as organized or extensive as those for the American chestnut (ever notice how these things usually only get into full swing long after the best opportunity has slipped away?) so they can probably use any help you can offer.

I remember finding butternuts in the woods behind my grandparents' home in western New York, and I find it tremendously depressing to think they might disappear.

Update (a year late):I just realized I never included the address in the link for the Butternut Rescue Team. It's fixed now.