Juglans regia is native to the region stretching from the Balkans eastward to the Himalayas and southwest China. The largest forests are in Kyrgystan, where trees occur in extensive, nearly pure, walnut forests at 1,000–2,000 m (3000 to 7000 ft) altitude. The major use for walnut trees are their nuts, although their wood is also consider- ed to be very valuable and they have several medicinal uses. They have no forage value.
Walnuts are late to grow leaves, typically not until more than halfway through the spring. They secrete chemicals into the soil to prevent competing vegetation from growing. Because of this, flowers or vege- table gardens should not be planted close to them. The male and female flowers are very different: male flowers are drooping yellow- green catkins 5–10 cm long and the female flowers appear in clusters of 2-5 (the flowers in the photo are female flowers). The female flowers develop into a fruit with a green, fleshy outerskin and a brown, wrinkled walnut inside. Walnuts are mainly wind pollinated.
The walnut's botanical name, Juglans, originates in Roman mythology. According to an ancient myth, Jupiter, who was also known as Jove, lived on walnuts when he lived on earth. Therefore Romans called wal- nuts Jovis glans, meaning 'the glans of Jupiter.' The botanical name of the English walnut, Juglans regia, means the 'royal nut of Jupiter'. |