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The wingnuts (Pterocarya) are a genus of plants in the walnut family Juglandaceae, native to Asia. They are deciduous trees, 10-40m tall, with pinnate leaves 20-45cm long, with 11-25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the walnuts (Juglans) but not the hickories (Carya) in the same family.

The flowers are monoecious, in catkin s. The seed catkins when mature (about 6 months after pollination) are pendulous, 15-45 cm long, with 20-80 seeds strung along them. The seeds are a small nutA nut in botany is a one-seeded (rarely two) simple dry fruit in which the ovary wall or part of it becomes very hard (stony or woody) at maturity. Most nuts come from pistils with inferior ovaries (see flower) and all are indehiscent (do not open at matu 5-10 mm across, with two wings, one each side. In some of the species, the wings are short (5-10 mm) and broad (5-10 mm), in others longer (10-25 mm) and narrower (2-5 mm).

1 Species

There are six species of wingnut.

• Pterocarya fraxinifolia - Caucasian Wingnut. CaucasusThe Caucasus is a region in eastern Europe and western Asia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea which includes the Caucasus mountains and surrounding lowlands. It is occasionally considered part of Central Asia. The highest peak is Elbrus (5642m), w and Elburz mountains in southwest Asia.
• Pterocarya hupehensis - Hubei Wingnut. Central ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute.
• Pterocarya macroptera - Large-winged Wingnut. West and southwest ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute.
• Pterocarya rhoifolia - Japanese Wingnut. JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh, eastern China ( Shandong).
• Pterocarya stenoptera - Chinese Wingnut. China, widespread.
• Pterocarya tonkinensis - Tonkin Wingnut. Southernmost China ( Yunnan), Indo-China.

Another species from China, the Wheel Wingnut with similar foliage but an unusual circular wing right round the nut (instead of two wings at the sides), previously listed as Pterocarya paliurus, has now been transferred to a new genus, as Cyclocarya paliurus.