NEW CHINESE CULTIVAR RESOURCES OF JUGLANS WITH SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS

The paper describes three new cultivars of Juglans, ‘Yihe 1’, ‘Qinglin’ and ‘Qinquan 1’. The new cultivar ‘Yihe 1’ (Juglans hopeiensis Hu) is for use in artwork, and originated from Hebei province, north of China. It has a thick, hard shell which is dense and not easily cracked. The shell surface is characterized by a rich texture, including remarkable grooves and ridges, protuberant seam and pointed apex. All these characteristics enabled nuts of ‘Yihe 1’ to be carved into all kinds of handicrafts. In addition, the tree grows vigorously and is protandrous. The cultivar ‘Qinglin’ was selected from a natural seedling of walnut for both timber and nut use. The nut is harvested in late September, 15-20 days later than other cultivars. The tree grows quickly and strongly, with upright branches. The trunk is straight, reaching up to as high as 4.0 m and 0.5 m in chest diameter. The surface texture of the timber is smooth and the individual tree timber volume is up to approximately 0.80 m³. It produces class ‘A’ timber. The new cultivar ‘Qinquan 1’ was characterized by high apomixis, and was selected from the seedlings of Mian Walnut of Shanxi, North of China. The average apomixes rate was 48.53%, the highest could reach up to 75.7%. The nut weighed about 11.3 g, the kernel accounted up to 6.4 g, the shell thickness was 1.18 mm, and the kernel proportion reaches 56.6%. The kernel could be taken out whole or halves, and its color is light yellow.