Walnut
Juglans regia
Witches danced beneath walnut trees. The tree remembered every step.
Overview
The walnut is among the most commercially valuable trees in the world — its timber sought for cabinetry and gunstocks, its nuts pressed for oil and eaten from Persia to California — and yet it carries a darkness in the folk tradition unusual for a tree so generously useful. Witches assembled beneath walnuts. The tree was said to repel both lightning and malign spirits through its powerful scent, yet attract those very things through its deep shade and solitary nature. The leaves kill grass where they fall; the roots suppress the growth of nearby plants through juglone, a natural herbicide. The walnut gives much, and takes territory in return.
Botanical Notes
A large deciduous tree to 30 metres, with a broad domed crown and grey, deeply fissured bark. Leaves pinnate, 25–45cm, with 5–9 leaflets, strongly aromatic when crushed. Flowers inconspicuous: male catkins 5–15cm, female flowers small, clustered at shoot tips, in April–May before leaves are fully open. Fruit a green, fleshy drupe enclosing the familiar wrinkled nut, ripening September–October. Native to the Balkans, central Asia, and the Himalayas; cultivated throughout Europe and temperate Asia for at least 3,000 years. Naturalised in many areas. The roots and leaf litter contain juglone, which inhibits the growth of many plants — particularly apples, nightshades, and birch — creating a characteristic clear zone beneath old specimens.
Lore & History
In Italian folk tradition — particularly in Benevento, in the Campania region — the great walnut of Benevento was the assembly point for witches arriving from all over Europe for their sabbath. The tree was so deeply associated with diabolical practice that it was felled by a bishop in the seventh century and replaced with a cross; a new walnut grew immediately, and the tradition continued. The Doctrine of Signatures gave the nut's wrinkled surface as evidence of its medicinal connection to the brain — the shell is a skull, the kernel a brain — which led to its use in treatments for headaches and mental complaints that had nothing to do with its actual chemistry. The husks of unripe nuts yield a brown dye so persistent it was used to stain wood and to darken hair, and so toxic to skin that it was said to mark a witch's hand.
Warnings
The nuts are safe and nutritious in normal amounts. The green husks and leaves contain juglone and other naphthoquinones that are toxic to some animals — particularly horses — and cause contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals; wear gloves when handling unripe husks or processing nuts. Juglone is a potent plant suppressant: do not compost walnut leaves with plants that are sensitive to it. Medicinally, walnut leaf preparations have been used for skin conditions and digestive complaints; large internal doses of the leaf are not advisable.