Bio Diversity Park

Common Name : Walnut

Hindi Name : अखरोट | Scientific Name : Juglans regia
Family : Juglandaceae
Uses : Walnuts are rich in nutrients – one ounce of it provides 18 grams of good fat, 4 grams of protein, and almost 2 grams of fibre. It also gives you other nutrients, including magnesium, potassium, iron, calcium, sodium, and B vitamins. It is a medicinal plant that has been widely used in traditional medicine for a wide array of ailments that include helminthiasis, diarrhoea, sinusitis, stomach ache, arthritis, asthma, eczema, scrofula, skin disorders, and various endocrine diseases such as diabetes mellitus, anorexia, thyroid dysfunctions, cancer and infectious diseases. In liqueur, the walnut fresh leaves and green fruits are used to produce the “nocino”, a digestive obtained by cold maceration in ethyl alcohol. From the fleshy part of the peel, the walnut husk, a juice is extracted which stains and which is used in the dry cleaners.
Native: Iran
General Description:

It is a large, deciduous tree attaining heights of 25-35m, and a trunk up to 2m diameter, commonly with a short trunk and broad crown, though taller and narrower in dense forest competition. The bark is smooth, olive-brown when young and silvery-grey on older branches, and features scattered broad fissures with a rougher texture. The pith of the twigs contains air spaces; this chambered pith is brownish in colour. The leaves are alternately arranged, 25-40cm long, odd-pinnate with 5-9 leaflets, paired alternately with one at branch-ends leaflet. The largest leaflets are the three at the tip, 10-18cm long and 6-8cm broad; the basal pair of leaflets are much smaller, 5-8cm long, with the margins of the leaflets entire. The male flowers are in drooping catkins 5-10cm long, and the female flowers are at branch-ends, in clusters of 2-5, ripening in the autumn into a fruit with a green, semi-fleshy husk and a brown, corrugated nut. The whole fruit, including the husk, falls in autumn; the seed is large, with a relatively thin shell, and edible, with a rich flavour.