Everything about Persian Walnut totally explained
Juglans regia (the
Common walnut,
Persian walnut, or
English walnut), is the original
walnut tree of the
Old World. It is native in a region stretching from the
Balkans eastward to the
Himalayas and southwest
China. The largest forests are in
Kyrgyzstan, where trees occur in extensive, nearly pure walnut forests at 1,000–2,000 m altitude (Hemery 1998)—notably at
Arslanbob in
Jalal-Abad Province.
Juglans regia is a large deciduous
tree attaining heights of 25–35 m, and a trunk up to 2 m diameter, commonly with a short trunk and broad crown, though taller and narrower in dense forest competition. It is a light-demanding species, requiring full sun to grow well.
The bark is smooth, olive-brown when young and silvery-grey on older branches, with scattered broad fissures with a rougher texture. Like all walnuts, the
pith of the twigs contains air spaces, the chambered pith brownish in colour. The
leaves are alternately arranged, 25-40 cm long, odd-pinnate with 5–9 leaflets, paired alternately with one terminal leaflet. The largest leaflets the three at the apex, 10–18 cm long and 6–8 cm broad; the basal pair of leaflets much smaller, 5–8 cm long, the margins of the leaflets entire. The male flowers are in drooping
catkins 5–10 cm long, the female flowers terminal, in clusters of two to five, 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.
Cultivation and uses
The walnut was introduced into western and northern
Europe very early, by
Roman times or earlier, and to
the Americas by the 17th century. Important nut-growing regions include
France,
Serbia,
Greece,
Bulgaria, and
Romania in Europe,
China in Asia,
California in North America, and
Chile in South America. It is cultivated extensively for its high-quality nuts, eaten both fresh and pressed for their richly flavoured oil; numerous
cultivars have been selected for larger and thin-shelled nuts.
The
wood is of very high quality, and is used to make furniture and rifle stocks.
Walnut ink, made by boiling the whole fruit or letting it oxidize, then releasing onto the exterior, is dark brown in color and darkens as it oxidizes. It can also be used to stain wood.
Nutritional value
100 g shelled walnuts provide
:
Etymology and other names
The scientific name
Juglans is from
Latin jovis glans, "
Jupiter's nut", and
regia, "royal". Its common name, Persian walnut, indicates its origins in
Persia in southwest Asia; 'walnut' derives from the
Germanic wal- for "foreign", recognising that it isn't a nut native to northern Europe.
Other names include Walnut (which doesn't distinguish the tree from other species of Juglans), Common Walnut and English Walnut, the latter name possibly because English sailors were prominent in
Juglans regia nut distribution at one time.
(External Link) In the
Chinese and
Korean languages, the edible, cultivated walnut is called 胡桃 (
hú táo in Mandarin or 호두
hodu in Korean), which means literally "Hu peach," suggesting that the ancient Chinese associated the introduction of the tree into East Asia with the
Hu barbarians of the regions north and northwest of China.
Folklore
In
Skopelos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, local legend suggests that whoever plants a walnut tree will die as soon as the tree can "see" the sea. This hasn't been proven as fact, however it might take some time to find a local
arborist willing to take on the job of planting a walnut tree. Most planting is done by field rats (subfamily
Murinae).
In
Flanders, the saying (in Dutch) goes "Boompje groot, plantertje dood", meaning "By the time the tree is big, the planter sure will be dead". The saying refers to the relatively slow growth rate of the tree.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Persian Walnut'.
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