Black Walnut Juglans nigra; (Juglandaceae)
DESCRIPTION
The Black Walnut tree may reach a height of one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet, with large, wide-spreading branches. The bark is dark brown with prominent ridges and deep furrows. The large compound leaves resemble the butternut. The staminate catkins, which appear with the leaves, also resemble the butternut's. The fruit is nearly round, yellowish green, roughly dotted, and an inch and a half to nearly three inches in diameter. The nut is dark, rough, hard and an inch to nearly two inches in diameter. The sweet, edible, four-celled kernel has a pleasant but strong taste and is quite oily. The husk has an aromatic odor (EWP: 1939:95).
GENERAL
Did you know that you can plant a Black Walnut tree a thousand miles from any sea water or any sea vegetation-and when it is grown, you can analyze it and find it high in iodine? Black Walnut has the power of changing one mineral to another, not through the long-sought-after process of alchemy, but through biological transmutation. This principle has been rediscovered in modern times, but the Black Walnut has been doing it all along. And the iodine found in Black Walnut is organic, much more antiseptic and healing than the usual poisonous iodine so commonly used for infections, cuts, etc.
It's one of the greatest herbs, according to Dr. Christopher. He told the story of the time he enlisted in the army in World War II:
“I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. I wanted to help people, so I went into the Army as a conscientious objector because I didn't believe in taking life. I said that I would do anything I could, even go out to the front lines with a stretcher, but that I would not kill people. Because of my status as conscientious objector I couldn't get any rank; I couldn't go any higher than a buck private.”
“They had given me a dispensary, one of eight in North Fork, Fort Lewis, Washington. Officers and enlisted men alike came to be treated for their ailments. I was in charge of several people, including a special helper and a clean-up-man.”
“One Monday morning, during the time we had our regular meetings, Major Shumate, who was over all eight of the dispensaries, brought in a soldier suffering from a case of impetigo contagiosa. Major Shumate discussed the case: `I've been a consulting dermatologist, and have my own clinic in New York, as you know, which is being run for me while I am here, so I am quite experienced in skin disorders, but I ha ve never seen a case like this.' The soldier had three-quarters of an inch of scab over the entire hair area; the hair had been clipped as close to the scalp as Possible and the scab covered the entire hair area. This man had been hospitalized at one of the largest hospitals in the Northwest, in fact, in the largest Army hospital in the West. He had been hospitalized nine times in all, treated with ammoniated lead and mercury and such things. The disease would subside somewhat in thirty to thirty-six days, but never completely clear. They would release him to go back into service, but in a few days, the impetigo would pop back out again. He had gone through this procedure nine times. ~
“The Army wanted to release him on a medical discharge. The patient said to Major Shumate, `I don't want a medical discharge. I came into the Army a clean man and you left me with this dirty stuff to take back to my family. I don't want to go.”
“Shumate said, `I've brought all sorts of specialists in from all over the United States and nobody can help you. There's nothing that can be done. So you've got to take a discharge.
“`He can be healed,' I said.”
“Shumate whirled around to me and said, `some of your blankety-blank herbs!”'
“`Yes, with some of my herbs,'I said calmly. I had been through this so often, people ridiculing me, that I didn't let it upset me.”
“`I don't care if he puts horse manure on my head,' said the soldier. `If it'll heal me, do it!”'
“One of the other fellows who headed one of the clinics said sarcastically, `When's the unveiling going to be?”'
“`Seven days from today,' I snapped back. Now this man had been hospitalized thirty to thirty-six days at a time and nothing had worked. Here I said that in seven days the man could be cured. When they left, the dispensary heads asked if they could come back the following Monday to have the meeting in my dispensary, instead of meeting at one of the others. Major Shumate agreed.”
“The patient had to sign two papers before he was turned over to me: one stated he was no longer a member of the United States Armed Forces, and the other said he was no longer a United States citizen, but a foreigner, an isolated individual there at Fort Lewis under treatment. The Army could have been sued, otherwise, if anything happened to him.
“I called Salt Lake, where I knew a man who had a Black Walnut tree in his yard; he was a professor at the University of Utah. I asked him if he had some husks from the outside of the nuts. He said, `Oh, yes, we've harvested this year, but the husks are under two feet of snow.”'
“`Will you go out and dig up that pile of husks and send me a big sack of them up to Fort Lewis? Can you get them on the plane tonight so I can have them the following morning?' He did, and I had those husks the following morning in Fort Lewis.”
“I made up a gallon of tincture of Black Walnut using rubbing alcohol. In the Army, the dispensaries were not allowed to handle 90 proof or any other proof grain alcohol; if we had, had it we could have used the tincture internally as well as externally. So I had to use rubbing alcohol, but never before and never since have I used rubbing alcohol for a tincture! The gallon of tincture was ready in two days. The usual time to make a tincture is fourteen days. but I was under a lot of pressure there, so this one was ready in two days and I credit the Lord for giving the tincture its potency
“We made up a night cap that covered the man's head like a football helmet. It was made of layer after layer of gauze till it was very thick. It was covered with adhesive tape and we taped it to hold it down. At the crosses where the tape didn't cover, there was room to insert a syringe filled with the tincture into the gauze to keep it wet. Because I lived off the base, I was only there so many hours in the day. When I left, I instructed the next shift to keep this man under observation twenty-four hours a day. The man was also kept under guard as he now had the status of a foreigner. ~
“He spent four days, Thursday through Sunday, with the fomentation on his head. Monday morning came, and for the first time all the dispensary heads were there on time, sifting on the edges of their chairs, waiting for the show.”
“The two MP's brought the soldier in, sat him down, and Major Shumate said, `Let's see the case.' So I loosened the adhesive tape where it was holding the headpiece down and took it off. Inside the helmet was three-quarters of an inch of horrible-looking scar tissue and scab. But his head was clean as a baby's. There was no sign of impetigo at all. There had been some secondary infection where the scalp had bled, and that was healing. The men had all gasped when I took the bandages off. Major Shumate used a few words I wouldn't repeat, but then he said, `I have been a dermatologist for years and I have never seen a case as horrible as this--and never have I seen anything heal as rapidly as what you've used.' In front of the men who were either lieutenants, majors, or captains, Major Shumate sanctioned me to treat all patients brought in to me with herbs. He officially made me an herbal doctor in the United States Army, the only one known in World War II. I brought back into the dispensary cases that I had, had to use the `skull and crossbones' medicines on, with no success, and I treated them with herbs-and they were healed. We got quite a name for ourselves. Men from all over Fort Lewis, even generals, came over because I had the only formula, Black Walnut tincture, that would heal jungle rot. The only one! And so we were very busy herbalists.”
TREE OF PLEASANT MEMORIES
Native to Europe and one of our most important native trees, Black Walnut ranges from Massachusetts to Minnesota and Nebraska, south to Florida and Texas. It is also domesticated almost everywhere. It is often found growing along fences, where squirrels and other animals buried the nuts for the winter. Originally a forest tree, common on hillsides and rich bottom lands, Black Walnut does not grow wild so much today, although large, old specimens remain from the days when the pioneers, clearing the land, allowed it to remain in their fields and around their homes (EWP: 1939). The American Indians made great use of Black Walnut, especially as a source of food.
Kloss wished that every farm would grow more of the trees, for their nuts as well as their medicine (KL:83). Many adults today remember pleasant days of their youth, climbing in the large, stately trees, gathering the nuts from the ground, shucking the green hulls and staining their fingers and enjoying the rich nut meats.
Since the seventeenth century, Black Walnut has been used in Russia externally for cleansing and quick healing of wounds. Produce from the whole tree, from bark to nut kernel, is used in India and Pakistan (Hut:88).
MEDICINE FROM THE NUT TREE
Black Walnut is a powerful herb; the leaves, inner bark, nut, and green or dry husks are all useful, but the green husk is the most potent of all. The medicine works to cure a variety of ailments.
Simmer the inner bark or leaves in honey for an excellent remedy for colic or for lung troubles(K.: 183). The inner bark is also a fibrin solvent, muscle and nerve food, and a food to build hair, nails, skin, etc. (SNH: 181). The leaves and bark are astringent, constricting and firming flabby or atonic tissues, so they are useful in cases of diarrhea or profuse menstruation, taken as a tea as well as a douche or injection (herbal injection, which is a small enema, not a medical injection!) The whole herb is a mild but sure laxative.
Externally, Black Walnut is nearly a miracle worker in cases of scrofula, eczema, impetigo (as related above), acne, dandruff, boils, itch, shingles, ringworm--we could go on, but you can see that you can use Black Walnut whenever a skin disorder appears! The tincture is an excellent first-aid remedy for wounds.
Hemorrhoids, whether bleeding or not, respond to injections of the infusion. Prolapsed uterus may correct with the use of the infusion as a douche.
Gargle the infusion for sore throat, relaxed uvula, hoarseness, tonsillitis, and similar ailments. This infusion is made slightly differently than usual: steep the leaves and inner bark for fifteen minutes in hot water. To make a strong infusion, macerate the leaves and inner bark in hot water for one hour. This strong infusion powerfully induces sweating and thus reduces fever.
To prevent failing hair, and to give hair a beautiful luster, rub the fingers in the tea and massage into the scalp daily (KI: 184).
Black Walnut is well-known as a vermifuge--an anti-parasite remedy. It will expel all kinds of worms from the intestinal tract. It also has been used to remedy poisonous snake bites, other poisonous bites, and mad dog bites (KI: 183).
The tincture of the nuts is reputed to be antispasmodic and is used in India and other areas to check the vomiting of morning sickness in pregnancy (IMM:709).
NUTS AND DYES
A most familiar nutmeat, black walnut's particular pungent flavor is a favorite in making sweets, ice-cream, and cakes. Many people make an annual event of gathering, husking, and cracking the nuts to store for the winter, although the nuts should generally be stored in the shell, as they may easily turn rancid, the nutmeats may be frozen. To judge whether the stored nuts will keep all winter long, crack a few of them before gathering. Nuts with dark-colored skins will shrivel and dry, but the nutmeats with nice, light-colored skins will last all winter, to be cracked when convenient. Black walnut meats are rich in manganese, important for the nerves, brain, and cartilage. The Russians prepare a Walnut Jam, pounding the raw nuts and mixing them with sweetening and a little lemon juice (Hut:88). The oil from the walnuts is edible and possesses many of the medicinal properties of the herb, especially laxative and vermifuge.
There is dye in the whole tree, but it is most concentrated in the hulls, as you know if you've hulled Black Walnuts; the stain cannot be removed with soap and water. Black Walnut dyes a rich tan to dark brown, becoming nearly black if you use an iron kettle. To get really dark shades, you can put the hulls in a lidded pot and ferment them, but don't boil wool too long in this ferment, as the mixture is harsh. Black walnut requires no mordant (chemicals used to set the dye permanently). You can dye any natural fibers with Black Walnut, though wool should be cleaned but otherwise untreated.
A standard dyeing recipe is about ten ounces of hulls to four-and-one-half or five gallons of water. Boll the husks a half-hour or so, strain if desired, and let the mixture sit overnight. Let the fibers simmer in the mixture until the cloth or wool is somewhat darker than the desired shade; rinse and dry (Hyl:203-5). A lovely technique is “exhausting” the pot: dyeing skeins of yarn in the same pot, each taking up less and less color, to produce gradations of color, lovely to knit, weave or embroider natural patterns (Ibid.).
Black Walnut hulls have also been used for tanning leather--the tannin content is the mordant in dyeing--and for dyeing leather.
Black Walnut wood is well-known for its beauty, used for paneling, cabinet-making, and salad bowls (Hut:87). It is one of our most valuable hardwoods
PREPARATION
It is relatively simple to gather the leaves, husks, nuts, etc. To gather the inner bark, very carefully shave off the outer bark, and then scrape off the inner bark as needed. Please be careful not to remove too much from any one tree, so as to prevent damage.
To prepare the tincture, take eight ounces of finely-chopped hulls and add to one quart of 90-proof alcohol. You can use green or dry, but the green works a little faster. Stopper and macerate for fourteen days, shaking gently at least once a day. Strain and bottle. This potent tincture can be used externally or internally, diluted, as described above. It should be present in any first-aid kit.
Make the infusion as described above. The decoction is made by slowly simmering the hulls, leaves, or inner bark for twenty or thirty minutes. However, the alcohol best extracts the organic iodine and other potent constituents.
CULTIVATION
Black Walnut grows best in regions where winter temperatures do not go lower than ten degrees below zero. It is rapid growing under good conditions, and the nuts mature in a comparatively short season, from mid-September to early October.
Plant seed nuts or seedling trees, as they are much cheaper than grafted trees, and most of them will produce good nuts. If pollen from larger trees is present, young trees will bear sooner than the seven or eight years necessary to produce pistillate blossoms.
Dir. L.H. McDanials of Cornell University lists as the most desirable varieties of Black Walnut, first, Thomas, then Snyder, Cornell, Tasterite, Wiard, Huber and Cochran for areas where the growing season is about 150 days in length (Rod E: 1100-1101).
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
The laboratory supplied Dr. Christopher with the following analysis:
BLACK WALNUT
Juglans nigra JUGLANDACEAE)
Bark Hulls
VITAMINS AND MINERALS
Ca .89% Fe .00021
P .77 Mn 182 Mg/lb
K .87 Cu tr
Na tr Zn tr
Cl .14 Iodine .32 Mg/lb
Mg .12 Sulfur .088
OTHER
mucilaginous material 3.6%
essential oil 0.3 1%
nucineol
nucin (sometimes called juglon)
oxalic acid
tannins .72%
gallic acid
eqaliic acid
None of these chemicals, however, will cause harm if used as described. In their natural state, combined with the other elements of the Black Walnut herb, these chemicals are harmless.
DR. CHRISTOPHER’S COMBINATIONS CONTAINING BLACK WALNUT
The Bone, Flesh and Cartilage Combination, which has so dramatically helped in serious skin diseases, contains Black Walnut. Dr. Christopher was called one night by a distressed mother of a teenage girl who was covered from head to foot with eczema. This girl was no longer attending school, had been overeating because of her unhappiness at her disease, had become quite overweight, and was now suicidal. Dr. Christopher recommended the Bone, Flesh, and Cartilage Combination, along with the three-day cleanse and mucusless diet. Not many months after, the mother called again to inform Dr. Christopher that the girl's skin had completely cleared, that she had lost weight, and that she was now a cheerleader at her high school, happy and full of life!
The Infection Combination contains Black Walnut. It is made up of plantain, black walnut, golden seal root, bugle weed, marshmallow root and lobelia. This wonderful formula kills infection, clears toxins from the lymph system, and is a natural infection fighter.
The slimming combination contains Black Walnut, which feeds the thyroid and other glands. Other herbs supply needed nutrients, purify the blood, eliminate excess fluids and appease the appetite.
Both the arthritis formula and yellow dock combinations contain black walnut. These and the rest of Dr. Christopher's formulas are discussed in each of his books.
The anti-plague formula contains Black Walnut. When Dr. Christopher was lecturing in Snowflake Arizona, he was describing the need for people to be prepared for the coming plagues in the last days.
Someone raised his hand and asked what should be used for the plague. Dr. Christopher, though he was a most noted herbalist, didn't have a ready answer! After a short prayer, he gave the anti-plague formula to the audience and then just forgot about it. Not long after, people began asking him for the formula again, as those at the Snowflake lecture had made it up and had, had marvelous results; they had cleared up flu, earache, eruptive diseases, car-sickness, and had even saved the life of a poisoned puppy! This anti-plague remedy is a most valuable combination.
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