Walnut

Description: A large, wide-branched tree up to 45 m high, with brownish- grey cracked bark. The leaves are deciduous, unpaired pinnate, releasing a pleasant smell when rubbed between the fingers. Male and female flowers appear on the same tree, the male flowers in dense, pendulous catkins, formed at the ends of the previous year’s branches, the female flowers in sparse terminal spikes. The fruits are plum-shaped and yellowish-green on the surface, containing a ‘nut’ with a thick, rugged ’shell’ protecting the edible seed.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to mountain forests from the Balkans to eastern Asia, but widely cultivated throughout the temperate zone.

Constituents: Two parts of the walnut tree yield useful substances, the leathery leaves which are gathered in summer, and the dried green shell of immature fruits. The leaves contain approximately 13 per cent tannins, a small amount of volatile oil, and glycide, converted after leaf-tissue damage into a brown staining substance called juglone. The dried fruit shell contains, besides oils and tannins, a relatively large amount of vitamin C.

Cosmetic Uses: The colouring properties of juglone are of cosmetic use, both in suntan oils and creams and in shampoos and hair tints to achieve beautiful brown tinges. Hair can be tinted at home with the fresh juice from the green shells surrounding the nuts. Mix about 20 g of ground green walnut husks with 50 cc water, 25 g alum and 75 g salad oil. Warm the mixture gently until it has the required tinge, and apply to the hair. The juice must be fresh, as it loses its tinting properties very quickly. It can also be used mixed with ethyl alcohol (10 g ground green husks in 100 cc 60 per cent ethanol).

Other Uses: In medicine the tannin content of walnut is utilized, internally in chronic enteritis and externally in baths for itching eczemas and frostbite. Walnut trees are of course grown mainly for their palatable oily seeds and for their hard, heavy and very durable wood which is used in shipbuilding and the manufacture of furniture.

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