Persian Walnut

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iPersian Walnut

Persian Walnut foliage and nuts

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Juglandaceae
Genus:	Juglans
Species:	J. regia

Binomial name

Juglans regia
L.

The Persian Walnut (Juglans regia), also known as Common Walnut or English Walnut, is a species of walnut native from the Balkans in southeast Europe east through southwest and central Asia and the Himalaya to southwest China. The largest forests are in Kyrgyzstan, where it occurs in extensive nearly pure walnut forests at 1,000-2,000 m altutude (Hemery 1998), notably at Arslanbob in Jalal-Abad Province.

It 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 silvery-grey, with scattered broad fissures with a rougher texture. Like all walnuts, the pith of the twigs contains air spaces. The leaves are spirally arranged, 25-40 cm long, odd-pinnate with 5-9 leaflets, 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 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.

[edit] Cultivation and uses

The Persian 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, 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 also of very high quality, similar to American Black Walnut, and is used to make furniture and rifle stocks.

[edit] Etymology and other names

The name Persian indicates its origins in Persia in southwest Asia; 'walnut' derives from the Germanic wal- for "foreign", recognising that it is not a nut native to northern Europe. Other names include Walnut (which does not distinguish it from other species of Juglans), Common Walnut and English Walnut, the last possibly because English merchant marines controlled its world commerce at one time. The scientific name Juglans is from Latin jovis glans, "Jupiter's nut", and regia, "royal".

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 Persian walnut into East Asia with the Hu barbarians of the regions north and northwest of China.