IV. 1. THE WALNUT 181 



moth, Ceratocampa regalis, feeds on the leaves of the black 

 walnut, (Report, p. 287). 



The two American genera of the Walnut Family, are the 

 Walnut and the Hickory. 



1. The Walnut has its flowers in simple, undivided aments, 

 its fruit covered by an undivided husk, and its leaves made up 

 of very many leaflets, — from eleven to twenty-three. 



2. The Hickory has its sterile flowers in compound aments, 

 the husk of its fruit opening naturally by four seams, and its 

 leaves of fewer leaflets, — from five to nine. 



'j 



1. THE WALNUT. JUGLANS. L. 



Spreading, round-headed timber trees, natives of North Amer- 

 ica and Persia, with rough bark, and deciduous, aromatic, com- 

 pound leaves, made up of many leaflets, as many, usually, as 

 from five to eleven pairs with an odd one. The sterile flowers 

 are in large, undivided catkins, from buds distinct from the 

 leaf buds, each flower containing from eight to thirty-six sta- 

 mens: the fertile are solitary or in small groups at the end of 

 the branches. The fruit is large, and covered with a spongy, 

 odorous, undivided husk. 



Before the introduction of the mahogany into Europe, the 

 wood of the European walnut was much employed in the con- 

 struction of furniture. Its chief use now is for gun-stocks. The 

 kernels of the walnuts abound in oil, which is prone to become 

 rancid, either in the kernel or when expressed, and is then 

 unwholesome. Properly dried, the nuts are sweet, wholesome 

 and nutritious. The expressed oil is not congealed by cold, 

 and, drying on exposure to air, it is useful in painting. It 

 is also used in cookery, as a substitute for the olive and almond 

 oils. The nut-bread, left after the expressure of the oil, is nu- 

 tritious, and is used to fatten poultry and other domestic ani- 

 mals. The bark of the several species is bitter and astringent, 

 and has been recommended in fevers, and to give tone and 

 strength to the stomach. The sap abounds in sugar, which 

 crystalizes on evaporation, like that of the sugar-cane. Fer- 



