278 



species o{ Juglans, Rafinesque was the first to record an opinion 

 that they form a distinct genus and the name he proposed this 

 should bear must certainly stand. His opinion is now shared by all. 



I do not know which of the old masters w^as the first to refer 

 to these trees. Loudon says that the Eastern Shag-bark was in- 

 troduced in English gardens in 1629. Parkinson states on page 

 1414 of his Theatrum Botanicum (1640), alluding to this tree as 

 ^' Nux Juglans alba Virginiensis^ the White Walnut of Virginia. 

 The tree hereof groweth more upright and spreadeth lesse (he is 

 comparing it with the real walnuts), the leaves are alike and the 

 nut smaller, much thicker and whiter in the outer, hard shell 

 than any of the former sort, and the kernel within much lesse 

 also, but white and as sweete." Plukenet's Almagestrum Botan- 

 icum (1696) p. 264, indicates four kinds as known to him : 



(i). Ntix Jiiglans Virginia7ia folius vulgaris shnilis, fr^ictu 

 subrotuiido, cortice ditrtore Imvi. The Hickory or White Virgin- 

 ian Walnut. Haec est ilia nux quam nostrates vocant the Hick- 

 ery, seu Pick hickery Nut ; cujus nucleis lac confident, Indi quod 

 vocant Hickery Milk. He refers to Parkinson's description above 

 quoted. This description appears to have been applied to the 

 Eastern Shag-bark. 



(2). Nux Jiiglans Virginiana alba minor, fructo nucis mos- 

 cliatcB simili, cortice glabro, siimmo fastigio velnti in aculewn pro- 

 diicto. He figures the nut on Plate .309, fig. 2, a and b, repre- 

 senting that of the Small-fruited Hickory. 



(3). Nux Juglans Virginiana alba, friictn parvo anguloso, 

 cortice la^vi. Represented on the same plate, fig. 2, c, being a 

 small nut of the Eastern Shag-bark. 



(4). Nux Juglans angnlosamajor, Americana, fructu longiore, 

 cortice albo Icevi, sunimo vertice mncronata. He fissures both the 

 foliage and the nut of this species (figs. 2 and 2 d), guesses that 

 it came from New England, and, although he says that the seed 

 is very bitter, I can only associate it with the Balsam Hickory. 



Miller's Gardener's Dictionary (173 1) rcognized, however, 

 only two of those described by Plukenet, still under Nux Juglans, 

 remarking that " the Virginian sorts are preserved as rarities by 

 such persons who are curious in collecting the several sorts of 

 trees. 



^ 



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