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Oil Nut | | Name : | Oil Nut | | Synonyms : | Butternut
Lemonwalnut
Oilnut
Oilnut bark
Walnut
| | Parts Used : | Inner bark, nuts, nut oil, and leaves | | Habitat : | Found from New Brunswick to Georgia, westwards to the Dakotas andArkansas. In rich woods. | | Description : | Butternut is a native North American tree that grows to a heightof 50-75 feet. Its branches spread wide from the trunk and are coveredwith smooth, gray bark. The leaves are alternate, large, and pinnate,with 7-8 pairs of serrate, oblong-lanceolate leaflets. Male and femaleflowers grow in separate catkins. The rough, deeply furrowed, fruitis an edible, pleasant-tasting, egg-shaped, kernel in a hard, darknutshell. | | Constituents : | Juglon (also called nucin or juglandic acid), essential fatty acids
Anthelmintic, cathartic, fruit is tonic, leaves are alterative, barkis laxative, husks of nuts are vermifuge | | Uses : | Butternut has a soothing, toniclaxative particularly suited to chronic constipation. The barkor the unripe nut will expel worms,parasites, and is used for feverish coldsand flu. Used for dysentery,diarrhea, and liver congestion.The leaves or green husks of the nuts taken as a tea is used in thetreatment of eczema and otherskin diseases.
Native Americans used the bark for rheumatism,headaches, toothaches,wounds to stop the bleeding,promote healing. Oil from the nuts is used for tapeworms, fungalinfections. Juglone, a component, is antiseptic and herbicidal,some anti-tumor activity has also been reported. The quills or innerbark are potent laxatives that are safe to use during pregnancies. | | Dosage : | Decoction: use 1 tsp. bark with 1 cup water. Take 1 cup aday, cold, a mouthful at a time.
Syrup: boil 1 lb. of bark in water. Evaporate the solutiondown to 1 pint. Add a lb. of sugar and boil until the desired consistencyis reached. Take 1 tbsp. at a time.
Tincture: take 1-15 drops, 3 times a day. | | Myths : | The unripe, half formed fruits of Butternut, make fine pickles, sothe old herbalists claim. The sap makes a fine sugar; the leaves,bark and unripe fruit make a dye that is chocolate-brown and was usedby the South during the Civil War as a dye for soldiers' uniforms.Often referred to as the butternut uniforms of the Confederacy. |
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