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Temperate and Subtropical Nuttery - List of Nut Plants

Temperate and subtropical nuttery, excluding:

[check against Menninger book]

*=major economic importance (all except pines are cultivated)

  1. Tropicals, e.g. Cocos nucifera, Anacardium occidentale, Terminalia, Aleurites moluccana?, Canarium?, Combretum?, Parinarium?, Lodoicea? And other palm seeds, kukui, marula, Bertholletia spp., Malabar chestnut, mongongo nut, Artocarpus seeds, Brosimum alicastrum (breadnut) Hicksbeachia[sp.?], Kermadecia . . .
  2. Herbaceous plants, e.g. Arachis hypogaea, Trapa natans, pumpkin, sunflower, and all grains of grasses and dicot herbs
  3. Cycads—very marginal, if not poisonous?  Slow, and need male and female plants.
  4. “Fruiting” bamboos, e.g. Melocanna and 
  5. Legume trees?—all desert or tropical anyway, and “peas” aren’t really “nuts”
    1. Marginal Miscellany
      1. Palmae (only one applies here):
  • Jubaea chilensis (spectabilis).  (Coquito)  Slow, but reliable, monoecious, hardy
      1. Proteaceae (semi-tropical; all evergreen)
  • Macadamia ternifolia/integrifolia*, and cultivars.  Slowish and +/- frost sensitive
  • Gevuina avellana (Chilean hazel)  Slow, and not very productive; needs 2 for poll.
      1. Fabaceae (+/- evergreen; desert or semitropical)
  • Castanospermum australe (Cape Chestnut)  Slowish, +/- frost sensitive; “nut” needs leaching
  • Cajanus cajan ( Pigeon pea)  Tropical?
  • Olneya tesota  (Desert Ironwood)  Very slow and needs extreme heat
  • Prosopis spp. (Mesquite) Several spp. produce edible pods and seeds. 
      1. Lauraceae (only one applies?; evergreen)
  • Umbellularia californica (Bay) Sparse producer; nuts have to be leached? Roasted?
      1. Hippocastanaceae (deciduous, easy)
  • Aesculus californica and other species (Buckeye) Poisonous unless leached
      1. Anthoceras sorbifolia (Yellowhorn)
      2. Anacardiaceae
  • Pistacia vera* (Pistachio) and cultivars.  Need male and female trees, and heat.  Productive.
      1. Rosaceae
  • Prunus dulcis and cultivars* (Almond) Easy, fast, beautiful, productive, delicious
  • P. amygdalus ‘Sweetheart’ and others? (Apricot) Pits small, hard-shelled, a bit bitter
  • P. ilicifolia and lyonii (Islay) Pits probably need leaching and/or roasting
      1. Ginkgoaceae

Ginkgo biloba and cultivars (silver nut) Need male and female trees.  Troublesome to process nuts?

    1. Conifers and allies
      1. Taxaceae
  • Torreya nucifera, others? (Kaya nut)  Need male and female trees. Slow, not productive
      1. Araucariaceae
  • Araucaria araucana* (monkey puzzle) Need two or more for pollination.  Slow
  • A. bidwillii (bunya bunya) Same as above
      1. Cupressaceae
  • Thuja orientalis, others? (arbor vitae) Seeds numerous but small
      1. Pinaceae
  • Pinus sabiniana (digger, gray, foothill pine) Heavy, hard cone, hard seed.  Fairly fast
  • P. torreyana (Torrey pine) Same.  Fast growth.  Like all pines, needs 2+ for poll. 
  • P. coulteri (Coulter pine) Same.  Cones even bigger but seeds smaller than above
  • P. jeffreyi (Jeffrey pine) Same. Although cones softer than the 3 “bigcone” pines.  Seeds smallish, but largest of the “ponderosoids”, soft-shelled?
  • P. pinea (Italian stone pine) Seeds hard-shelled, but a soft-shell strain exists
  • P. gerardiana (Himalayan stone pine) Very slow.  This and all the rest are “white pines”; all soft-shelled?
  • P. sibirica (Siberian stone pine) Closely related to P. cembra.  Source of most commercial nuts?
  • P. koraiensis* (Korean stone pine) “ “ ?
  • P. albicaulis (whitebark pine) Needs alpine conditions?
  • P. lambertiana (sugar pine) seeds smallish, tree huge, not very productive
  • P. flexilis (limber pine) 
  • P. f. reflexa (foxtail pine)
  • P. maximartinezii (giant pinon)
  • P. pinceana (weeping pinon)
  • P. cembroides (Mexican pinon)
  • P. quadrifolia (four-leaf pinon)
  • P. edulis* (2-leaf pinon)
  • P. monophylla/californica (one-leaf pinon)
  • P. remota (Texas pinon)
  • P. nelsonii (Nelson pinon)
    1. Amentiferae: the REAL nuts
      1. Corylaceae (all deciduous, temperate, monoecious)
  • Corylus avellana* (hazel) and cultivars.  Productive, but need “Oregon weather” and also two or more for pollination.  Marginally, also C. californica, C. colurna etc.
      1. Juglandaceae (all deciduous, temperate; monoecious)
  • Carya illinoinensis* (pecan) and cultivars.  Fast and productive, but needs heat and pollinators.
  • C. illinoisense x spp. (hicans) hybrids
  • C. ovata, C. laciniosa, others? (hickory)  Slow, and shells very hard, but great
  • Juglans regia* (English walnut) and cultivars.  Productive, reliable, easy.
  • J. nigra (black walnut) and cultivars.  Fast and productive, but shells very hard.  Also smaller-fruited relatives J. hindsii, J. californica etc.
  • J. cinerea (butternut)  Need two or more for pollination?
  • J. ailantifolia
  • J. sieboldii
      1. Fagaceae (temperate-deciduous to subtropical-evergreen; monoecious)
  • Nothofagus spp. (southern beech) Evergreen.  Nuts too small to be useful?
  • Fagus sylvatica, grandifolia etc. (Beech) Deciduous.  Small but tasty.  Need two or more for pollination.
  • Castanea spp. and cultivars* (chestnut) Deciduous.  Species differ little; all major food trees.
  • Castanopsis spp.  Evergreen
  • Chrysolepis chrysophylla (chinquapin) Evergreen.  Nuts good but tiny; buts nasty
  • Lithocarpus densiflora (tan-oak) Evergreen.  Large nutritious acorns.  Need leaching..
  • Pasania edulis and others? (                ) Evergreen.  Acorns need leaching?
  • Quercus (subg. Chrysobalanus              ) spp. Evergreen.  Acorns need leaching?
  • Q. (subg.                ) spp. (black/red oaks) Deciduous or evergreen.  Acorns need leaching.
Q. (subg.               ) spp. (white oaks) Deciduous or evergreen.  Acorns usually need leaching, but not in a few species and individuals.