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The walnut is a majestic tree that can reach heights of over 30 meters, producing hard-shelled, green fruit containing one or more nuts.
Walnut fruit is widely consumed by humans and animals worldwide! Walnut wood is also highly prized for the creation of furniture and handicrafts, as it has a beautiful color and magnificent reflections.
Here you'll find all the information you need to understand walnut. We've compiled the characteristics, specifications and information on this exceptional wood.
Features | Description | |
---|---|---|
Common name | Walnut | |
Scientific name | Juglans | |
Type | Fruit tree belonging to the Juglandaceae family. | |
Leaf color | Green leaves that turn yellow in autumn before falling off. | |
Fruit color | The fruit of the walnut tree is the walnut. It develops within a very thick shell called the husk. In autumn, the husk falls off and the nut is harvested. | |
Wood color | Walnut wood is well known for its beauty and strength. It is brown in color, with variations from light to dark brown. | |
Height | Up to 25 meters. | |
Trunk diameter | Depending on the age of the tree, the trunk size will vary. On average, a mature walnut tree has a trunk of one meter. But some trees can have a trunk over 2 meters in diameter. | |
Growth | Very fast-growing. Walnut can grow up to a metre every year. | |
Service life | Up to 300 years. | |
Hardness | Hardwood, resistant to scratches and cracks. | |
Fleur | Female flowers look like small green blossoms, while male flowers are a cluster of small drooping flowers. | |
Fruit | Walnuts: a high-energy nut with a high fatty acid, protein and antioxidant content. | |
Leaf | Leaves are elongated and slightly specific at the tip, with a smooth surface. Leaf size depends on the walnut species. | |
Flowering period | During the summer | |
Walnut wood availability | ★★★☆☆ | |
Walnut wood prices | ★★★★★ | |
Disease and pests | Bacteriosis is the most common disease of walnut trees. |
Take a closer look at the characteristics and uses of walnut, as well as its history and advantages as a craft and decorative material.
Walnut is a shade- and moisture-averse tree, so it doesn't grow in valleys or forests.
Around the world, walnut is grown on a large scale in North America and Asia, as well as in the south of France.
California is home to the world's largest walnut grove.
Thanks to flower and pollen fossils, we know that the walnut tree has been around since the Tertiary era.
Thanks to the many conquests of territories and clashes between the Persians and the Greeks, the walnut tree travelled from the Himalayan mountains to Europe, then to South America in the 16th century, and finally to North America in the 17th century.
Traces of walnut in France date back to the 1880s.
American walnut or black walnut
Juglans nigra
A tree that grows from Texas to Canada
Height of 30 metres with dark bark
Large leaves and rough-shelled nuts
Leaves about 60 centimetres long
Butternut or white walnut
Juglans cinerea
Tree growing in the eastern United States
Height 20 metres with light grey bark
downy leaves and nuts that grow in clusters of 6 fruits
Leaves about 60 centimetres long
All over the world, walnut is a highly prized wood. In Europe, walnut has remained the most valuable wood for many years.
Walnut is a glossy wood with a fine, tight grain. It has few veins but many shades, as the sapwood (the outermost wood of the trunk) is light brown, while the heartwood is dark brown with black veins. It is a hard, scratch-resistant wood.
Walnut is an expensive wood because it is becoming increasingly rare. In fact, this tree, which has inhabited our land for centuries, has lived through many wars and has been very rarely reproduced and replanted. During the First World War, for example, rifle butts were made from walnut because of its robustness.
Because it's easy to work with and aesthetically pleasing, it's popular with woodworkers. It's a wood that moves very little and won't shrink or warp. Many things can be made from walnut, including furniture, tables, chairs, crockery, bowls, cutting boards, jewelry and even bow ties!
The walnut does not flower or bear fruit at the same time as other fruit trees. Buds appear at the end of April, then blossom at the end of May. The fruit then ripens in October, and the leaves fall at the end of October.
To get the first walnuts, you need to be very patient. Walnut trees can take up to 25 years to produce their first nuts. But, as a tree that can live up to 300 years, if you plant a walnut tree in your garden, you'll have nuts for the rest of your life.
Walnuts are picked in early autumn, either manually by tapping the tree with a stick, or mechanically using machines that vibrate the trees and cause the fruit to fall. Today, for reasons of profitability, mechanical picking is increasingly used.
Once the nuts have been picked with their shells (called brou), they need to be dried to prevent mold. This process is also mechanical: the nuts are rotated in a machine and washed with plenty of water to remove branches, leaves and stones. They are then sorted by hand and dried.
The final stage involves weighing, grading and packing the nuts for distribution.
Walnuts are high-energy nuts with numerous benefits.
Walnuts have anti-oxidant properties, and are rich in omega 3 and 6 as well as vitamins B and E. They are recommended for reducing cholesterol, cardiovascular disease and certain types of diabetes.
Walnuts are widely used in pastry-making, as they add great flavor to desserts. They are also a perfect accompaniment to salads and cheeses. Walnuts can also be used in breads.
Walnut oil has once again become a first-choice cooking oil. It is obtained from very dry, aged walnuts, which are crushed and then pressed to extract all the oil.
Vin de la Saint-Jean can also be made from young walnuts still in their husks, macerated in brandy. Wine and sugar are then added to make a wine much appreciated in France.
Walnut flowers are unisexual, i.e. there is one male and one female flower. They're not just decorative flowers, they're reproductive.
Pollination is not by insects, but by the wind! You should also know that when the walnut tree is young, it produces only female flowers.
The walnut is a large tree that provides habitat and food for many species. Birds, squirrels and bats all find refuge in this tree. They either make their nests on the branches or nest in the natural cavities of old walnut trees.
Walnut nuts are an important source of food for squirrels, birds and small mammals. Also, as they eat, they displace seeds and contribute to the development of walnut trees.
The shell surrounding the fruit and the leaves of the walnut tree contain juglone, which acts as a natural weedkiller all around the perimeter of the tree. When the leaves fall, the toxin present in them is released into the soil, preventing all plants from growing.
There's a saying that goes: "Never nap under a walnut tree or you'll get a headache".
For garden maintenance, we recommend making walnut leaf purin and spraying it on the garden as an insecticide and herbicide.
In medicine, this toxin is used to treat skin inflammations such as eczema.
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