Walnut

Tree of the nut family. The crown is powerful and spreading. On old trunks the bark is light gray, with cracks, on young trunks it is smooth.

The leaves are alternate, petiolate, imparipinnate. The leaves are elliptical or elongated, dark green above and light below. The plant is monoecious.

Blooms in April - May. The flowers are small, inconspicuous, unisexual. The fruit is a false drupe.

The outer pericarp is fleshy, green, after ripening it becomes leathery, turns black, and is separated from the nut - a bivalve drupe, inside of which there is a four-lobed seed, covered with a thin skin, and iodine - an oily seed kernel: Ripens at the end of August.

Walnut is widespread in the wild in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia and Central Asia. It grows in gorges and river valleys separately or in groups, less often found in the form of small groves.

It has been introduced into culture since ancient times. They are grown in Central Asia, Transcaucasia, Crimea, Moldova, Ukraine and the North Caucasus.

Walnut trees are used to strengthen mountain slopes and as protective plantings.

Wood is a high-quality building material, valued in furniture and carpentry production, in the manufacture of musical instruments and artistic products. The bark can be used to dye hair, silk, wool and wood black and brown, as well as to tan leather. The leaves are used as a substitute for tea and tobacco, for tanning leather, dyeing hair, fabrics and wood.

Unripe fruits are used to make jams and marinades, as they are a source of vitamin C, while ripe ones are a highly nutritious food product. They are widely used in cooking and confectionery production, as well as for feeding patients with low or high acidity of gastric juice. Walnut shells are suitable for the production of activated carbon, grinding stones, linoleum and roofing felt.

The medicinal raw materials are leaves, pericarps, green and ripe nuts. The leaves are harvested in June, when they have not reached their final development, and are quickly dried in the sun, taking care not to turn black, otherwise they will lose their medicinal properties.

All parts of the plant contain many biologically active substances: bark - triterpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, vitamin C, tannins, quinones (juglone, etc.); leaves - aldehydes, essential oil, alkaloids, vitamins C, PP, carotene, phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins, coumarins, flavonoids, anthocyanins, quinones and high aromatic hydrocarbons; pericarp - organic acids, vitamin C, carotene, phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins, coumarins and quinones.

Vitamins C, B, B2, PP, carotene and quinones are found in green nuts; in mature nuts - sitosterols, vitamins C, Br, PP, carotene, tannins, quinones and fatty oil, which includes linoleic, linolenic, oleic, palmitic and other acids, as well as fiber, iron and cobalt salts. The shell contains phenolcarboxylic acids, tannins and coumarins; pelicula (thin brown skin covering the fruit) - steroids, phenol carbonic acids, tannins and coumarins.

Walnut preparations have bactericidal, tonic, anti-sclerotic, astringent, antidiarrheal, laxative (root bark), moderately hypoglycemic, hemostatic, anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, wound-healing and epithelizing effects.

Ripe nuts are a food product and a highly active medicine. In terms of calories, they are 2 times higher than premium wheat bread.

They are recommended for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis, with a lack of vitamins, cobalt salts and iron in the body. Nuts contain a lot of fiber and fat, which can enhance activity