This time of year I hike many Central New Jersey paths that are littered with these black walnuts.
And when they begin to decay, their inside turns into a jet-black goo and they easily squish under-foot and can make quite the mess of your hiking boots. I guess that's the price you pay for the walnut kernels.
I can tell you that the decaying husks, once split open, are favored by ants, maggots, and other woodland insects. And I imagine that birds and other animals probably eat them as well.
Another risk you take is getting clunked in the head with one of these bad boys!
Here's an image courtesy of TheParkLands.org showing the stages of the walnuts:
I brought one of the green nuts home and sliced it in half:
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A pair of nuts still clinging on for dear life!
Of course I have to provide a shot of the leaves.
This one should be dropping momentarily, I wouldn't stand under it for too long.
You can see how the gelatin-like inside can easily stain your fingers.
This is how they appear all over the ground underneath the black walnut trees that they fall from.
I wasn't kidding when I said that the rotting nuts are filled with jet-black goo!
I easily split this one open just by gently squeezing it ...
... and you can see the maggots that are already feasting on its black rotting interior.
This is what the bark looks like, it's very gnarly.
A view up into the canopy of a black walnut tree.
They split open very easily once they are sufficiently decayed.
Sony RX100 V)All images (except as noted) @cognoscere and taken on Wednesday September 20, 2017 at Thompson Park in Lincroft, New Jersey (
I had not 1 but 2 experiences with these vile black walnut tree droppings yesterday. (1) on a jog through the park I rolled my ankle on one of these tennis ball wannabes so bad that my ankle touched the ground. (2) One of my kids picked up a different one of these green inconveniences and got the black goo and maggots all over the place, with no means to wipe or wash hands in sight! I could personally do without the black walnut tree refuse.
😱
Ain't life grand? lol, I'm sorry that happened to you
I have never seen these before !! Fall is definitely on its way , certain locations the trees tell it all
The black walnut is part of the Carolinian forest I believe - I wanted to get one for our yard and I swear, the people at the garden center stopped and it was silent....DO. NOT. GET. A. WALNUT. TREE!! They are messy, dirty etc etc. I never knew how bad it was until you posted these pictures. lol......they sure are nasty with their fruit.
By the way....the single shot of the fruit on the tree..I think the 6th one....it looks like it's moving esp when you slowly move the screen....I thought it was a giph at first.
may the force be with you haha :D Fall approaching soon
We had a black walnut tree as a kid. I remember them being a pain to crack open. I'd open them with a hammer but they took a bit of hitting to get open. They are a pain in the butt type tree. We'd have so many walnuts in the driveway we'd have to put them in buckets and we'd always have tons of buckets with no where to dump them. No one wanted to haul them off to crack and eat.