IV. 1. THE BUTTERNUT OR OIL NUT. 1S3 



a prolonged point, serrate, rather thick and rongh, and lighter 

 colored beneath. The bnds are destitute of external scales. 



The sterile flowers issue from the sides of last year's shoots, in 

 large green catkins four to seven inches long, and four or five 

 eighths of an inch or more in diameter. They are on oblong, 

 shield-like, green scales, disposed pretty closely on all sides of the 

 catkins. Each scale terminates in a brown, hairy tuft, above 

 which are three lanceolate, pointed lobes, with two lateral lobes 

 midway of the scale. The stamens are about eight to twelve, 

 sessile, brown on the upper surface, which, by the pendence of 

 the catkins, becomes the lower. 



Fertile flowers, two, six or seven on a terminal downy stalk. 

 Each is surrounded by an involucre of several broad scales, 

 forming at base the oblong cup, and within them are five or six 

 narrow, pointed sepals, immediately investing the long style, 

 which terminates in a large purple or rose-red stigma, deeply 

 cleft, two to three eighths of an inch long. The cup, which 

 enlarges to become the fruit, is invested with numerous reddish 

 or white glands, which exude a penetrating, viscid substance. 



The leaf-stalks and recent shoots are set with similar glands 

 in less number. 



The flowers appear in May, and the fruit ripens in October. 



The fruit grows single or two to five together on the sides and 

 end of a stout, pliable footstalk, which is one to three inches 

 long. They are green, turning to brown, oblong-ovoid, or in- 

 versely pear-shaped, invested with glandular hairs, which se- 

 crete a clammy, resinous and penetrating odorous substance, and 

 crowned by the stigma and ends of the calyx scales. Within 

 a thin, leathery husk, they contain a nut about two inches long, 

 and of half that thickness, covered with stony, opposite, keel- 

 like projections, and sculptured with deep furrows and sharp 

 irregular ridges. It is rounded at base, and acute at the end, 

 and about an inch in diameter. The kernel of this nut is of one 

 piece, but can with difficulty be extracted whole. It is of an 

 oily nature, and soon becomes rancid ; but when carefully dried 

 is sweet and very pleasant. 



The butternut tree abounds on the Hoosic Mountains, among 

 the Green Mountains, on the sides of the Wachusett, and par- 



