See text Pterocarya, often called wingnuts in English, are trees in the walnut family Juglandaceae.

The botanic name is from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pteron) "wing" + κάρυον (karyon) "nut".

Pterocarya are deciduous trees, 10–40 m tall, with pinnate leaves 20–45 cm 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.

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.

The hybrid P. × rehderiana, a cross between P. fraxinifolia and P. stenoptera, is even faster-growing and has occasionally been planted for timber production.