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 | Walnut Other Names: Carya. Jupiter's Nuts.
Botanical Name: Juglans nigra
Family: N.O. Juglandaceae |
Description: |
The Common Walnut, a large and handsome tree, with strong, spreading boughs, is not a native of Britain. Its native place is probably Persia. Other varieties of Walnut, the Black Walnut, the various kinds of Hickory, etc., are mostly natives of North America.
The Romans called the tree nux, on account of its fruit. The English name Walnut is partly of Teutonic origin, the Germans naming the nut Wallnuss, or Welsche Nuss - Welsche signifying foreign.
It was said that in the 'golden age,' when men lived upon acorns the gods lived upon Walnuts, and hence the name of Juglans, Jovis glans, or Jupiter's nuts.
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.
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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. |
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.
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Medicinal Usage: |
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. |
Ancient Lore: |
JUGLANS REGIA
An enemy to those that have the cough.
A large tree growing from 30 to 80 feet (9 to 24 rn) high, valuable for its wood and fruit. The flowers are yellow-green, the male ones in hanging catkins, the female in short, erect spikes.
Where to find it: Gardens and woodland.
Flowering time: Late spring.
Astrology: A tree of the Sun.
Medicinal virtues.. The bark is binding and drying and the young leaves are similar. Older leaves are heating and drying and harder of digestion. Taken with sweet wine, they move the belly downwards, but if they are old they grieve the stomach. They kill the worms in the stomach or belly. Taken with Onions, salt and honey they help the bites of mad dogs, or poisonous bites. The juice of the green husks boiled with honey is an excellent gargle for sore mouths or heat and inflammations in the throat or stomach. When the kernels grow old, they are more oily and unfit to be eaten, but are used to heal wounds of the sinews, gangrenes and carbuncles. If burned, the kernels are astringent and will stay laxes and women's courses.
Modern uses: Walnuts are a natural source of manganese. The dried leaves are astringent and used in the form of an infusion as a skin application - i oz (28 g) of the leaves to 1 Pt (5 68 rni) of boiling water is allowed to stand for six hours and then strained. This is suitable for conditions such as eczema, herpes and ulcers. The powdered bark taken by infusion is laxative. |
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