The Medicinal Herb Info site was created to help educate visitors about the often forgotten wisdom of the old ways of treating illnesses. Many of today's drugs and medicines were originally derived from natural ingredients, combinations of plants and other items found in nature.

We are not suggesting that you ignore the help of trained medical professionals, simply that you have additional options available for treating illnesses. Often the most effective treatment involves a responsible blend of both modern and traditional treatments.

We wish you peace and health!

Black Walnut

Scientific Names

Black Walnut

  • Juglans nigra L.
  • Juglandaceae
  • Walnut family

Common Names

  • Walnut

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Parts Usually Used

Bark, leaves, rind of the fruit
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Black Walnut

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

Black walnut is a large, Temperate Zone forest tree growing to 120 feet; its bark is rough and dark. The leaves are pinnately compound, with 9-21 ovate lanceolate, serrate leaflets. Male and female flowers grow in separate catkins. The fruit is a deeply grooved nut inside a spherical, rough husk. October-November.
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Where Found

Found in rich woods. Western Massachusetts to Florida; Texas to Minnesota. Canada
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Medicinal Properties

Bark: astringent, laxative, alterative

Leaves: alterative

Rind: herpatic
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Biochemical Information

Juglon (also called nucin or juglandic acid)
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Black Walnut

Legends, Myths and Stories

Black walnut produces the famous walnut wood of commerce, as well as the familiar edible nuts. Treats dog or man bites, painter’s oil, flavoring. Black walnut hulls are used for dyeing hair. Boil the hulls in 1 quart of water. Allow to steep until a very dark brew is obtained. Add copperas, the size of a pea, to set the dye. Strain and use as a hair rinse after shampoo. Repeat rinses until desired shade is acquired.
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Uses

Use an infusion or decoction for diarrhea and to stop the production of milk. Use it as a douche for leukorrhea and as a mouthwash for soreness in the mouth or inflamed tonsils. The leaves can be used to make a cleansing wash, and the green rind of the fruit makes a good poultice to get rid of ringworm. Dried bark may be taken in a strong infusion as a purgative. The unripe nut kills intestinal worms. Chewing the bark is a remedy for toothache; an insecticide for bed bugs.

Rubbed on the skin, the extract of black walnut is said to help eczema, herpes, psoriasis, fungus infections, and skin parasites.

Native Americans used inner-bark tea as an emetic, laxative, chewed the bark for colic, poulticed for inflammation.
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Formulas or Dosages

Tea: steep 1 oz. of either the bark or leaves in 1 cup water and take 2 or 3 times daily.

Extract: mix 10 to 20 drops in water or juice daily.

Externally: rub extract on skin 2 times daily.
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Warning

Husk will stain anything it touches.
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Resource Links

Mayo Clinic – Cholesterol: Top 5 foods to lower your numbers

PubMed.gov: Walnut polyphenols prevent liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride and d-galactosamine: hepatoprotective hydrolyzable tannins in the kernel pellicles of walnut.

PubMed.gov: Suppression of implanted MDA-MB 231 human breast cancer growth in nude mice by dietary walnut.

PubMed.gov: Olive oil and walnut breakfasts reduce the postprandial inflammatory response in mononuclear cells compared with a butter breakfast in healthy men.

PubMed.gov: The effect of a calorie controlled diet containing walnuts on substrate oxidation during 8-hours in a room calorimeter.

PubMed.gov: Antihypertriglyceridemic effect of walnut oil.

PubMed.gov: Blood cholesterol and walnut consumption: a cross-sectional survey in France.

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Bibliography

Buy It! The Herb Book, by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY. copyright 1974.

Buy It! The Herbalist Almanac, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994

Buy It! Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke., Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000

Buy It! The Nature Doctor: A Manual of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, by Dr. H.C.A. Vogel; Keats Publishing, Inc., 27 Pine Street (Box 876) New Canaan, CT. 06840-0876. Copyright Verlag A. Vogel, Teufen (AR) Switzerland 1952, 1991

Buy It! Planetary Herbology, by Michael Tierra, C.A., N.D., O.M.D., Lotus Press, PO Box 325, Twin Lakes. WI 53181., Copyright 1988, published 1992

Buy It! The Complete Medicinal Herbal, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993

Buy It! Earl Mindell’s Herb Bible, by Earl Mindell, R.Ph., Ph.D., Simon & Schuster/Fireside, Rockefeller Center 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

Buy It! Indian Herbalogy of North America, by Alma R. Hutchens, Shambala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, 1973

Buy It! American Folk Medicine, by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973

Buy It! Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, Victoria Neufeldt, Editor in Chief, New World Dictionaries: A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023

Buy It! An Instant Guide to Medicinal Plants, by Pamela Forey and Ruth Lindsay, Crescent Books (January 27, 1992).

Buy It! The Yoga of Herbs: An Ayurvedic Guide to Herbal Medicine, by Dr. David Frawley & Dr. Vasant Lad, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, Second edition, 1988.

Buy It! The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book), edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. Emmaus, PA, 18049., 1974

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