Walnut fact sheet
- Name: walnut or walnut tree
- Botanical name: Juglans regia
- Family: Walnut family (lat.Juglandaceae)
- Tree species: deciduous tree
- Usage: garden tree, park tree
- Species: around 60
- Distribution: worldwide, especially Central Europe, but also the rest of Europe, Asia, America
- Height: 10 to 30 meters
- Leaf: alternate pinnate pinnate 7 to 9 elongated ovoid leaves, up to 12 cm long, smooth leaf margin, dark green, yellow-orange autumn color, in late summer the leaf feels like leather, spicy scent (smell drives away mosquitoes and flies)
- Frequency: monozygotic, single sex
- Flowers: greenish colored, male flowers sprout with the leaves, hang in thick catkins, female flowers appear 3 to 4 weeks later, flowering time from April to June, pollination by wind
- Fruit: the nut is surrounded by a green fruit shell; Ripening time September to October
- Branches: olive-brown, thick, with distinct leaf scars, brown buds
- Bark: gray, later barked black, cracked, rich in profile
- Wood: hard, noble, expensive
- Root: deep roots
- Location: sunny to partially shaded
- Soil: sandy-loamy to loamy
- pH value: slightly acidic to alkaline
- Age: up to 150 years, sometimes over 200 years
Special facts about the walnut tree
It is known that the tasty fruits of the walnut tree have been important as food for humans for more than 10,000 years.
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The fat content of the nuts is over 50 percent. This makes them an excellent source of energy. Basically, walnuts are very healthy: They help with anemia, for example. They also support wound healing and reduce water loss in the event of diarrhea.
Walnuts contain iron, zinc, potassium and alpha-linolenic acid. The latter is an important omega-3 fatty acid for the human body.
Nowadays, the walnut tree has the role of a useful tree. For this reason, walnuts can now be found in all moderate climates in the northern hemisphere. Walnuts are less common than wild trees.
In addition to the fruits, the wood of the walnut is also of economic importance. Because of its unusual color and the aesthetically pleasing grain, walnut wood functions as a precious and correspondingly expensive wood.
Walnut popular as a medicinal plant
Another interesting fact is the pronounced popularity of the walnut tree as a medicinal plant in naturopathy.
Often the nuts as well as the fruit peels and leaves are used in folk medicine. There they are used to manufacture anti-inflammatory and antibacterial preparations.
The leaves of the walnut are used internally and externally, for example as walnut leaf tea to drink or in the form of poultices for the skin. They are said to have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. The leaves are also said to have a positive effect on eczema, acne and fungal diseases.
With regard to the internal use (walnut leaf tea) caution is advised: In the case of a sensitive, sensitive stomach, unpleasant symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea threaten. In principle, however, the walnut is not toxic to humans.
