Juglans regia L.

Juglans regia L.

Photo Fr-Dr

Latin Name: Juglans regia L.

Family & Genus: Juglandaceae, Juglans

Synonym Name: Juglans duclouxiana Dode; Juglans fallax Dode; Juglans kamaonia (C. de Candolle) Dode; Juglans orientis Dode; Juglans regia var. sinensis C. de Candolle; Juglans sinensis (C. de Candolle) Dode.

English Name: English Walnut, Persian Walnut, Corcassian Walnut, European Walnut, Juglans regia, the Persian walnut, English walnut, Carpathian walnut, Madeira walnut, common walnu

Vietnamese name: Hồ đào, Óc chó, Lạc tây.

Chinese name: 胡桃 hu tao. Roots: Hutaogen. Leaves: Hutaoye. Branches: Hutaozhi. Flowers: Hutaohua. Endocarp: Hutaoke. Kernel: Hutaoren.

Description: Trees to 25 m tall. Leaves 25-30 cm; petiole 5-7 cm; petiole and rachis glabrescent, without glandular hairs; leaflets (3 or)5-9, entire on mature trees, sometimes obscurely serrulate on young plants; lateral leaflets subsessile or petiolule 1-2 mm, blade elliptic-ovate to long elliptic, 6-15 × 3-6 cm, abaxially glabrous except for tufts of hairs in vein axils, without glandular hairs, base oblique, subrounded, apex obtuse or acute to shortly acuminate; terminal petiolule 2.5-6 cm. Male spike 5-10(-15) cm. Stamens 6-30(-40). Fruiting spike usually with 1-3(-38) nuts. Nuts subglobose, 4-6 cm; husk glabrous, irregularly dehiscent; shell thick except in commercial varieties, wrinkled. Flowering: May to June, fruiting: September to October.

Distribution: Growing in montane and hills. Cultivated in the southern and northern parts of China. The medicinal materials are mainly produced in Hebei, Shanxi.

Part Used: Medical part: roots, leaves, branches, flowers, endocarp, kernel.

Harvest & Processing: Roots: harvested throughout the year, excavated the roots, sliced; or scraped velamen, sliced and used fresh. Leaves: can be collected in May-Oct, used fresh or sundried. Branches: collected young branches and leaves in May-Aug and used fresh. Flowers: picked from May to June when blooming, used fresh or sundried. Endocarp: collected shuck, and sun-dried. Kernel: collected when fruits mature in autumn, removed fleshy pericarp, sundried, removed shuck and taken kernel.

Chemistry:

- Velamen contains quinones, such as juglone, cyclotrisjuglone, etc.

- The leaves of this plant contain phenolic acids, tannins, essential fatty acids (linoleic acid is its major fatty acid), ascorbic acid, flavonoids, caffeic acid, and paracomaric acid. The most important flavonoids in the walnut leaves include quercetin galactoside and quercetin pantocid derivatives, quercetin arabinoside, quercetin xyloside, and quercetin rhamnoside Leaves contain flavonoid compounds, such as quereitrin, hyperoside, juglanin, salicylic acid, vanillic acid, caryophyllene. epicatechin, syringetin-O-hexoside, myricetin-3-O-glucoside, myricetin-3-O-pantocid, aesculetin, taxifolin-pantocid, quercetin glucuronide, kaempferol pantocid, and kaempferol rhamnoside

- Flowers contain jasmonic acid, 6-epicucurbic.

- Endocarp contains polysaccharide.

- Kernel contains crude protein and fatty acid.

- Fruits of walnut trees are valuable and edible; and their oil is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, tocopherols, and phytosterols

Pharmacology: Leaves, kernel: anti-bacterial, and anticancer, antidiabetic activity, antioxidant activity, lipid lowering activity, antihypertensive activity, antimicrobial and antifungal activity, protective of liver and kidney

Side effects of walnut: with an increase in the dose used, this plant, like some poisonous plants, may cause damages; therefore, the amount consumed, and the time course of therapy should be determined by a physician. Taking this herb as a medicine to prevent and cure numerous diseases needs supplementary clinical trials.

Properties & Actions:  Leaves: bitter, harsh, neutral. Inner peel: bitter, harsh, neutral. Seed nut: sweet, harsh, warm. Roots: relieving diarrhea, suppressing pains, darkening beard and hair. Leaves: astringing for stopping leukorrhagia, destroying parasites and detumescence. Endocarp: relieving hemorrhage, checking dysentery, dissipating binds and eliminating carbuncle, destroying parasites for suppressing itching. Kernel: tonifying kidney and controlling nocturnal emission, warming the kidney for settling pant and moistening the intestines for freeing bowel.

Indications & Usage: Root: diarrhea, toothache, early greying of beard and hair. Leaves: leucorrhea, sarcoptidosis, lymphedema. Branches: gaile, mass. Endocarp: metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, algomenorrhea, lingering dysentery, goose webbed claws. Kernel: lumbago and beriberi, impotence, emissions, anischuria, urinary frequency, dyspnea due to long term coughing, constipation induced by dryness of the intestine, stranguria caused by urinary stones. Roots: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g. External application: decocted for washing. Leaves: oral administration: decocting 15-30g. External application: decocted for washing or fumigating; or smashed for applying. Branches: oral administration: decocting, 15-30g. External application: decocted for washing. Endocarp: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g; or calcined preserving nature then powdered, 3-6g each time. External application: decocted for washing. Kernel: oral administration: decocting, 9-15g or made as pills or powders. External application: powdered, smashed for applying. Not use in cases of yin deficiency and fire excess or of phlegm-fire and accumulated heat.

Examples      

1. Scrotal eczema: English walnut bark 0.5 jin, Chinese wingnut leaf 0.5 jin. Decoct in water, add little salt, and wash the outside.

2. Leproma: English walnut bark 1 liang, light powder 3 qian. Grind together into powder, prepare with sesame oil and smear externally.

3. Excess leucorrhea: English walnut leaves 10, add egg 2, decoct and swallow.

References

Chinese Medicinal Material Images Database

efloras.org

Theplantlist

Hamdollah Delaviz, Jamshid Mohammadi, Ghasem Ghalamfarsa, Bahram Mohammadi, and Naser Farhadi, A Review Study on Phytochemistry and Pharmacology Applications of Juglans regia Plant; Pharmacogn Rev. 2017 Jul-Dec; 11(22): 145–152.

doi: 10.4103/phrev.phrev_10_17