- Juglans cinerea L.
- Walnut family
Parts Usually Used
Inner bark, nuts, nut oil, and leaves
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Butternut is a native North American tree that grows to a height
of 50-75 feet. Its branches spread wide from the trunk and are covered
with smooth, gray bark. The leaves are alternate, large, and pinnate,
with 7-8 pairs of serrate, oblong-lanceolate leaflets. Male and female
flowers grow in separate catkins. The rough, deeply furrowed, fruit
is an edible, pleasant-tasting, egg-shaped, kernel in a hard, dark
Found from New Brunswick to Georgia, westwards to the Dakotas and
Arkansas. In rich woods.
Anthelmintic, cathartic, fruit is tonic, leaves are alterative, bark
is laxative, husks of nuts are vermifuge
Juglon (also called nucin or juglandic acid), essential fatty acids
Legends, Myths and Stories
The unripe, half formed fruits of Butternut, make fine pickles, so
the old herbalists claim. The sap makes a fine sugar; the leaves,
bark and unripe fruit make a dye that is chocolate-brown and was used
by the South during the Civil War as a dye for soldiers' uniforms.
Often referred to as the butternut uniforms of the Confederacy.
Butternut has a soothing, tonic
laxative particularly suited to chronic constipation. The bark
or the unripe nut will expel worms,
parasites, and is used for feverish colds
and flu. Used for dysentery,
diarrhea, and liver congestion.
The leaves or green husks of the nuts taken as a tea is used in the
treatment of eczema and other
Native Americans used the bark for rheumatism,
wounds to stop the bleeding,
promote healing. Oil from the nuts is used for tapeworms, fungal
infections. Juglone, a component, is antiseptic and herbicidal,
some anti-tumor activity has also been reported. The quills or inner
bark are potent laxatives that are safe to use during pregnancies.
Formulas or Dosages
Decoction: use 1 tsp. bark with 1 cup water. Take 1 cup a
day, cold, a mouthful at a time.
Syrup: boil 1 lb. of bark in water. Evaporate the solution
down to 1 pint. Add a lb. of sugar and boil until the desired consistency
is reached. Take 1 tbsp. at a time.
Tincture: take 1-15 drops, 3 times a day.