Growing in open areas, the stem is short and the crown is broad and spreading. The leaves are alternate and odd-pinnately compound. Foliage is a yellowish-green color. Leaf scars lack a hairy, felt-like margin on the upper edge of the leaf scar. Eastern Black Walnut Buds have few scales.
Lateral buds are smaller than the terminal buds.
Pith in the twigs is buff-colored and chambered after the first season. The bark is thick, dark brown in color, and divided by rather deep fissures into rounded ridges. Black walnut and butternut are allelopathic and produce a compound called juglone. This compound will injure some other plants. Many plants in the rose family and heath family are very sensitive and will be injured or killed if planted beneath the drip line of a black walnut tree.