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BotanicalName : Juglans nigra (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Juglandaceae

Synonyms-:–Carya. Jupiter’s Nuts.
(Dutch) Walnoot.
(Greek) Carya persica. Carya basilike.
(Roman) Nux persica. Nux regia.
Habitat: According to Dr. Royle Juglans regia extends from Greece and Asia Minor, over Lebanon and Persia, probably all along the Hindu-Kush to the Himalayas. It is abundant in Kashmir, and is found in Sirmore, Kumdon and Nepal. The walnuts imported into the plains of India are chiefly from Kashmir. Dr. Hooker states that in the Sikkim Himalaya, the Walnut inhabits the mountain slopes at an elevation of 4,000 to 7,000 feet.
According to Pliny, it was introduced into Italy from Persia, and it is mentioned by Varro, who was born B.C. 116, as growing in Italy during his lifetime.
There is no certain account of the time it was brought into this country. Some say 1562; but Gerard, writing about thirty years later, mentions the Walnut as being very common in the fields near common highways, and in orchards.

Description:
The tree grows to a height of 40 or 60 feet, with a large spreading top, and thick, massive stem. One accurately measured by Professor du Breuil, in Normandy, was upwards of 23 feet in circumference; and in some parts of France there are Walnut trees 300 years old, with stems of much greater thickness. In the southern parts of England the trees grow vigorously and bear abundantly, when not injured by late frosts in spring.

The flowers of separate sexes are borne upon the same tree and appear in early spring before the leaves. The male flowers have a calyx of five or six scales, surrounding from eighteen to thirty-six stamens; whilst the calyx of the female flowers closely envelops the ovary, which bears two or three fleshy stigmas. The deciduous leaves are pinnate.

For drying indoors, a warm, sunny attic, or loft may be employed, the window being left open by day, so that there is a current of air and the moist, hot air may escape: the door may also be left open. The leaves can be placed on coarse butter-cloth, stented – if hooks are placed beneath the window and on the opposite wall the butter-cloth can be attached by rings sewn on each side of it and hooked on so that it is stretched taut. The temperature should be from 70 degrees to 100 degrees.

Failing sun, any ordinary shed, fitted with racks and shelves, can be used provided it is ventilated near the roof anl has a warm current of air, caused by an ordinary coke or anthracite stove. Empty glasshouses can readily be adapted into drying-sheds (especially if heated by pipes) if the glass is shaded. Ventilation is essential, and there must be no open tank in the house to cause steaming.

The leaves should be spread in a single layer, preferably not touching, and may be turned during drying.

All dried leaves should be packed away at once, in airtight, wooden or tin boxes in a dry place, otherwise they re-absorb moisture from the air.

Walnut leaves are parchment-like when dry, and the leaf-stalks brown, but the leaves themselves keep their good colour when dried. They have a bitter and astringent taste. By long keeping, the leaves become brown and lose their characteristic, aromatic odour.

The bark is dried in the same manner as the leaves. When dry, it occurs in quilled or curbed pieces, 3 to 6 inches long or more, and 3/4 inch broad, dull blackish-brown, with traces of a thin, whitish epidermal layer tough and fibrous and somewhat mealy. The inner fibres are tough and flattened, the outer ones, white and silky. The taste is bitter and astringent, but it has no odour.

The 21 species in the genus range across the north temperate Old World from southeast Europe east to Japan, and more widely in the New World from southeast Canada west to California and south to Argentina. The Latin name Juglans derives from Jovis glans, “Jupiter’s acorn”: figuratively, a nut fit for a god.

The word walnut derives from Old English wealhhnutu, literally “foreign nut”, wealh meaning “foreign” (wealh is akin to the terms Welsh and Vlach; see *Walha and History of the term Vlach). The walnut was so called because it was introduced from Gaul and Italy. The previous Latin name for the walnut was nux Gallica, “Gallic nut”.

The best-known member of the genus is the Persian Walnut (Juglans regia), native from the Balkans in southeast Europe, southwest & central Asia to the Himalaya and southwest China.

The scientific name Juglans is from the Latin jovis glans, “Jupiter’s nut”, and regia, “royal”. Its common name, Persian walnut, indicates its origins in Persia (Iran) in southwest Asia; ‘walnut’ derives from the Germanic wal- for “foreign”, recognising that it is not a nut native to northern Europe. In Kyrgyzstan alone there are 230,700 ha of walnut-fruit forest, where J. regia is the dominant overstorey (Hemery and Popov 1998). This is the species which is widely cultivated for its delicious nuts. J. regia is also called English walnut because English merchant marines once controlled its world commerce.

The Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is a common species in its native eastern North America, and is also widely cultivated elsewhere. The nuts are edible, but have a smaller kernel and an extremely tough shell, and they are not widely grown for nut production.

The Butternut (Juglans cinerea) is also native to eastern North America, where it is currently endangered by an introduced disease, butternut canker, caused by the fungus Sirococcus clavigignenti. Its leaves are 40-60 cm long, and the nuts oval.

The Japanese Walnut (Juglans ailantifolia) is similar to Butternut, distinguished by the larger leaves up to 90 cm long, and round (not oval) nuts.

Cultivation and uses:
The two most commercially important species are J. regia for timber and nuts, and J. nigra for timber. Both species have similar cultivation requirements and are widely grown in temperate zones.

Walnuts are light-demanding species that benefit from protection from wind. Walnuts are also very hardy against drought.

Interplanting walnut plantations with a nitrogen fixing plant such as Elaeagnus × ebbingei or E. umbellata, and various Alnus species results in a 30% increase in tree height and girth (Hemery 2001).

When grown for nuts care must be taken to select cultivars that are compatible for pollination purposes, although some cultivars are marketed as “self fertile” they will generally fruit better with a different pollination partner. There are many different cultivars available for growers, offering different growth habit, flowering and leafing, kernel flavour and shell thickness. A key trait for more northerly latitudes of N. America and Europe is phenology, with ‘late flushing’ being particularly important to avoid frost damage in Spring. Some cultivars have been developed for novel ‘hedge’ production systems developed in Europe and would not suit more traditional orchard systems.

Nuts:
The nuts of all the species are edible, but the walnuts commonly available in stores are from the Persian Walnut, the only species which has a large nut and thin shell. A horticultural form selected for thin nut shells and hardiness in temperate zones is sometimes known as the ‘Carpathian’ walnut. The nuts are rich in oil, and are widely eaten both fresh and in cookery. Walnut oil is expensive and consequently is used sparingly; most often in salad dressing. Oil paint also often employs walnut oil as an effective binding medium, known for its clear, glossy consistency and non-toxicity. Walnuts are also an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, and have been shown as helpful in lowering cholesterol. They need to be kept dry and refrigerated to store well; in warm conditions they become rancid in a few weeks, particularly after shelling.

In some countries immature nuts in their husks are preserved in vinegar. In England these are called “pickled walnuts” and this is one of the major uses for fresh nuts from the small scale plantings. In Armenian cuisine, walnuts are preserved in sugar syrup and eaten whole. In Italy, liqueurs called Nocino and Nocello are flavoured with walnuts. In Georgia, walnuts are ground along with other ingredients to make walnut sauce.

Walnuts are heavily used in India. In Jammu, India it is used widely as a prasad (offering) to Mother Goddess Vaisnav Devi and, generally, as a dry food in the season of festivals such as Diwali.

Walnut husks are often used to create a rich yellow-brown to dark brown dye that is used for dyeing fabric and for other purposes. When picking walnuts, the husks should be handled wearing rubber gloves, to avoid dyeing one’s fingers.

Wood:
The Persian Walnut, and the Black Walnut and its allies, are important for their attractive timber, which (except in young trees) is hard, dense, tight-grained and polishes to a very smooth finish. The colour ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate colour in the heartwood. When kiln-dried, walnut wood tends toward a dull brown colour, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown. Because of its colour, hardness and grain it is a prized furniture and carving wood. Walnut burls (or ‘burrs’ in Europe) are commonly used to create bowls and other turned pieces. Veneer sliced from walnut burl is one of the most valuable and highly prized by cabinet makers and prestige car manufacturers. Walnut wood has been the timber of choice for gunmakers for centuries, including the Lee Enfield rifle of the First World War. Today it is used for exclusive sporting guns, by makers such as Purdey of London. The wood of the Butternut and related Asian species is of much lower value, softer, coarser, less strong and heavy, and paler in color.

In North America research has been undertaken mostly on Juglans nigra aiming to improve the quality of planting stock and markets. The Walnut Council is the key body linking growers with scientists. In Europe, various EU-led scientific programs have studied walnut growing for timber

Walnut leaves as food plants:
Walnuts are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species. These include:

Brown-tail (Euproctis chrysorrhoea)
the Coleophora case-bearers C. laticornella (recorded on J. nigra) and C. pruniella.
Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria)
Emperor Moth (Pavonia pavonia)
The Engrailed (Ectropis crepuscularia)
Walnut Sphinx (Amorpha juglandis)

Health Benefits:
A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that eating walnuts after a meal high in unhealthy fats can reduce the damaging effects of such fats on blood vessels. Researchers from Barcelona’s Hospital Clinic conducted a study on 24 adult participants, half of whom had normal cholesterol levels, and half of whom had moderately high levels of cholesterol. Each group was fed two high-fat meals of salami and cheese, eaten one week apart. During one meal, the researchers supplemented the food with five teaspoons of olive oil. The researcher added eight shelled walnuts to the other meal, the following week.

Constituents: The active principle of the whole Walnut tree, as well as of the nuts, is Nucin or Juglon. The kernels contain oil, mucilage, albumin, mineral matter, cellulose and water.

Medicinal Action and Uses:

The bark and leaves have alterative, laxative, astringent and detergent properties, and are used in the treatment of skin troubles. They are of the highest value for curing scrofulous diseases, herpes, eczema, etc., and for healing indolent ulcers; an infusion of 1 OZ. of dried bark or leaves (slightly more of the fresh leaves) to the pint of boiling water, allowed to stand for six hours, and strained off is taken in wineglassful doses, three times a day, the same infusion being also employed at the same time for outward application. Obstinate ulcers may also be cured with sugar, well saturated with a strong decoction of Walnut leaves.

The bark, dried and powdered, and made into a strong infusion, is a useful purgative.

The husk, shell and peel are sudorific, especially if used when the Walnuts are green. Whilst unripe, the nut has wormdestroying virtues.

The fruit, when young and unripe, makes a wholesome, anti-scorbutic pickle, the vinegar in which the green fruit has been pickled proving a capital gargle for sore and slightly ulcerated throats. Walnut catsup embodies the medicinal virtues of the unripe nuts.

It is much cultivated in some parts of Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland, and formerly also in England, particularly on the chalk-hills of Surrey, for the sake of its timber, as well as for its fruit.

On the Continent, the wood is still in great request for furniture, but when mahogany became a favourite wood in this country, in the early part of last century, the old walnut trees that were cut down were not always replaced by young ones, so that plantations of this tree dlminished.

At one time as much as L. (Lear) 600 was given for a single Walnut tree.

The leaves have a very strong, characteristic smell, aromatic and not unpleasant, but said to be injurious to sensitive people. They have three, sometimes four pairs of leaflets and a terminal one, the leaflets varying in size on the same leaf, being 2 1/4 to 4 inches in length and 1 to 1 1/2 inch wide, entire, smooth, shining, and paler below.

The flowers begin to open about the middle of April and are in full bloom by the middle of May, before which time the tree is in full leaf.

Even in the south of France, this tree is frequently injured by spring frosts.

The wood has been much used, not only for furniture and wainscoting, but for the wheels and bodies of coaches, for making gun-stocks, and by the cabinet-maker for inlaying. It is unfit for use as beams because of its brittleness.

The oil yielded by the kernel of the fruit (the part eaten) is used to polish the wood. Not congealing by cold, it is found on this account most useful for painters for mixing gold-size and varnish with white and delicate colours. The oil has been used in some parts of France for frying, eaten as butter and employed as lamp oil. One bushel of nuts, producing about 15 lb. of peeled kernels, will yield about 7 lb. of the oil.

The green husks of the fruit, boiled, make a good yellow dye.

No insects will touch the leaves of the Walnut, which yield a brown dye, which gypsies use to stain their skin. It is said to contain iodine.

The husks and leaves, macerated in warm water impart to it an intense bitterness, which will destroy all worms (if the liquid be poured on to lawns and grass walks) without injuring the grass itself

Tests after each meal showed that both the olive oil and the walnuts helped reduce the onset of dangerous inflammation and oxidation in the arteries after the meals, which were high in saturated fat. However, unlike the olive oil, the walnuts also helped the arteries maintain their elasticity and flexibility, even in the participants with higher cholesterol.

Lead researcher Dr. Emilio Ros said walnuts’ protective effects could be because the nuts are high in antioxidants and ALA, a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid. Walnuts also contain arginine, which is an amino acid that the body uses to produce nitric oxide, necessary for keeping blood vessels flexible.

Walnut extract and Alzheimer’s:
A study by the NYS Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities found that walnut extract was able to inhibit and defibrillize (to break down) fibrillar amyloid beta protein – the principal component of amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s. The study looked at the effect of walnut extract on amyloid beta protein fibrillization by Thioflavin T fluorescence spectroscopy and electron microscopy.

Parts Used In Medicines:-The leaves and bark. The leaves are stripped off the tree singly, in June and July and dried.

Gather the leaves only in fine weather, in the morning, after the dew has been dried by the sun. The prevalence of an east wind is favourable, as the dry air facilitates the process of drying. Reject all stained leaves.

Drying may be done in warm, sunny weather, out-of-doors, but in half-shade as leaves dried in the shade retain their colour better than those dried in the sun and do not become so tindery. They may be placed on wire sieves, or frames covered with wire or garden netting – at a height of about 3 or 4 feet from the ground, to ensure a current of air – and must be taken indoors to a dry room or shed, before there is any chance of them becoming damp from dew or showers.

The juice of the green husks, boiled with honey, is also a good gargle for a sore mouth and inflamed throat, and the distilled water of the green husks is good for quinsy and as an application for wounds and internally is a cooling drink in agues.

The thin, yellow skin which clothes the inner nut is a notable remedy for colic, being first dried, and then rubbed into powder. It is administered in doses of 30 grains, with a tablespoonful of peppermint water.

The oil extracted from the ripe kernels, taken inwardly in 1/2 OZ. doses, has also proved good for colic and is efficacious, applied externally, for skin diseases of the leprous type and wounds and gangrenes.

Preparations-–Fluid extract leaves, 1 to 2 drachms. Walnut oil.

The Walnut has been termed ‘vegetable arsenic,’ on account of its curative effect in eczema and other skin diseases.

These results suggest that walnuts may reduce the risk or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by maintaining amyloid beta protein in the soluble form.

Walnuts in Chinese medicine:
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, walnut seeds are primarily considered a kidney tonic. They are also considered beneficial to the brain, back, and skin, and to relieve constipation if it is caused by dehydration.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/w/walnut06.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walnut

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