What is the botanical name of the walnut? How many types are there? How old can a walnut get? We clarify these and other questions in this article, which, in addition to the brief profile of the walnut tree, also includes specific descriptions of some special features.
Walnut trees grow 10 to 30 meters high
Profile of the walnut
- Name: walnut or walnut tree
- Botanical name: Juglans regia
- Family: walnut family (lat. Juglandaceae)
- Tree species: deciduous tree
- Use: garden tree, park tree
- Species: about 60
- Distribution: worldwide, especially Central Europe, but also the rest of Europe, Asia, America
- Height: 10 to 30 meters
- Leaves: Alternate, imparipinnate, 7 to 9 elongated, ovate single leaves, up to 12 cm long, smooth leaf margin, dark green, yellow-orange autumn colour, in late summer the leaf feels like leather, spicy scent (smell repels mosquitoes and flies)
- Frequency: monoecious, separating sexes
- Flowers: greenish in color, male flowers sprout with the leaves, hang in catkins, female flowers appear 3 to 4 weeks later, flowering period from April to June, wind pollination
- Fruit: the nut is surrounded by a green pericarp; Ripening period September to October
- Twigs: olive-brown, thick, with clear leaf scars, brown buds
- Bark: grey, later barky black, cracked, rich in profile
- Wood: hard, noble, expensive
- Root: deep rooter
- Location: sunny to semi-shady
- Soil: sandy-loamy to loamy
- pH value: slightly acidic to alkaline
- Age: up to 150 years, some over 200 years
Special facts about the walnut tree
It is known that the tasty fruits of the walnut tree have been important to humans as food for more than 10,000 years.
The fat content of nuts is over 50 percent. This makes them an excellent source of energy. Basically, walnuts are considered to be very healthy: they help with anemia, for example. They also support wound healing and reduce water loss in diarrhea.
Walnuts contain iron, zinc, potassium and a-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 climate zones in the northern hemisphere. Walnuts are rarely found as wild trees.
In addition to the fruits, the wood of the walnut is also of economic importance. Because of its extraordinary color and the aesthetically pleasing grain, walnut wood acts as a valuable and correspondingly expensive precious wood.
Walnut popular as a medicinal plant
An interesting fact is also the popularity of the walnut tree as a medicinal plant in naturopathy.
Nuts, fruit peels and leaves are often used in folk medicine. There they are used to produce anti-inflammatory and antibacterial preparations.
The leaves of the walnut are used internally and externally, for example as walnut leaf tea for drinking or in the form of poultices for the skin. They are said to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects. The leaves are also said to have a positive effect on eczema, acne and fungal diseases.
With regard to internal use (walnut leaf tea), however, caution is advised: in the case of a sensitive, sensitive stomach, there is a risk of unpleasant symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea. In principle, however, the walnut is not poisonous to humans.