Juglandaceae

Juglandaceae [‚jū‚glan′dās·ē‚ē]

(botany)

A family of dicotyledonous plants in the order Juglandales having unisexual flowers, a solitary basal ovule in a unilocular inferior ovary, and pinnately compound, exstipulate leaves.

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Juglandaceae 

a family of dicotyledonous trees or, rarely, shrubs. The leaves are generally alternate and exstipulate. The flowers are diclinous. The staminate flowers are often in drooping catkins; the pistillate flowers are solitary, in catkins (sometimes gathered into compound panicled inflorescences), or in groups of two or three. Juglandaceae are for the most part monoecious, wind-pollinated plants. The pistil usually consists of two carpels, and the ovary is inferior. The fruit is generally a drupe, or more accurately, an inferior drupe. The stone together with its enclosed seed is erroneously called a nut.

There are eight genera of Juglandaceae, embracing approximately 70 species. They are distributed predominantly in temperate and subtropical regions of both hemispheres. Two genera grow wild in the USSR: Juglans (walnut) and Pterocarya. In addition, species of the genera Platycarya, Cyclocarya, and Carya are cultivated. The fruits of plants of the family Juglandaceae are used as food; the wood is used in the manufacture of furniture and other products. Species of the genera Juglans (English walnut, Manchurian walnut) and Carya (pecan) have the greatest economic value.