The tree has been cultivated for its edible walnuts, and there have been at least 80 authorised or approved cultivars produced after successful implementation of grafting technology.

[3][4][5] Iron walnut was long known in China before it was formally described in 1906 and given the scientific name Juglans sigillata by French botanist Louis-Albert Dode [fr].

[6][1] Subsequently, it was largely neglected in western scientific literature until studied by the Chinese botanists Ko Zen Kuang [zh; es] and An Ming Lu [zh; es] in the Flora of China series in 1979.

[3][2][4] The tree has been cultivated for its edible nuts, and there have been at least 80 authorised or approved cultivars produced after successful implementation of grafting technology.

Demonstrating an estimated divergence time between J. sigillata and the more widely cultivated Juglans regia 49 million years ago.