The Walnut 255 



best kinds being styled in Greek Persicum and basilicon, 1 and these being 

 the actual names by which they first became known in Italy. 1 Pliny 

 himself employs the name nuces iuglandes. Although Juglans regia is 

 indigenous to the Mediterranean region, the Greeks seem to have 

 received better varieties from anterior Asia, hence Greek names like 

 K&pva Trepauia or napva <nvo)Tiica. 



In fact, Juglans regia grows spontaneously in northern Persia and 

 in Baluchistan; it has been found in the valleys of the Pskem and 

 Ablatun at altitudes varying from 1000 to 1500 m. Another species 

 (Juglans pterocarpa, "Juglans with winged fruits") is met in the prov- 

 inces of Ghilan and Mazanderan and in the vicinity of Astrabad. 4 

 A. Engler 8 states that the walnut occurs wild also in eastern Afghanis- 

 tan at altitudes of from 2200 to 2800 m. Ibn Haukal extols the walnuts 

 of Arrajan, MuqaddasI those of Kirman, and Istaxri those of the 

 province of Jlruft. 6 



In Fergana, Russian Turkistan, the walnut is cultivated in gardens; 

 but the nuts offered for sale are usually derived from wild-growing trees 

 which form complete forests in the mountains. 7 According to A. Stein, 8 

 walnuts abound at Khotan. The same explorer found them at Yul-arik 

 and neighboring villages. 6 



1 That is, "Persian nut" and "nut of the king," respectively, the king being 

 the Basileus of Persia. These two designations are also given by Dioscorides (1, 178). 



2 Et has e Perside regibus translatas indicio sunt Graeca nomina: optimum 

 quippe genus earum Persicum atque basilicon vocant, et haec fuere prima nomina 

 {Nat. hist., xv, 22, § 87). 



• J. Hoops, Waldbaume und Kulturpflanzen, p. 553. The Romans transplanted 

 the walnut into Gallia and Germania during the first centuries of our era. Numerous 

 walnuts have been brought to light from the wells of the Saalburg, testifying to 

 the favor in which they were held by the Romans. The cultivation of the tree is 

 commended in Charles the Great's Capitulate de villis and Garden Inventories. 

 Its planting in Gaul is shown by the late Latin term nux gallica, Old French nois 

 gauge, which survives in our "walnut" (German walnuss, Danish valnod, Old Norse 

 valhnot, Anglo-Saxon wealh-hnutu) ; walk, wal, was the Germanic designation of the 

 Celts (derived from the Celtic tribe Volcae), subsequently transferred to the Romanic 

 peoples of France and Italy. 



• C. Joret, Plantes dans I'antiquitl, Vol. II, p. 44. Joret (p. 92) states that the 

 Persians cultivated nut-trees and consumed the nuts, both fresh and dried. The 

 walnut is twice mentioned in the BQndahisn among the fruits serving as food, and 

 among fruits the inside of which is fit to eat, but not the outside (West, Pahlavi 

 Texts, Vol. I, pp. 101, 103; cf. also p. 275). 



8 Erlauterungen zu den Nutzpflanzen der gemassigten Zonen, p. 22. 



• P. Schwarz, Iran im Mittelalter, pp. 114, 218, 241. 



7 S. Korzinski, Sketches of the Flora of Turkistan, in Russian {Memoirs Imp. 

 Russ. Ac, 8th ser., Vol. IV, No. 4, pp. 39, 53). 



8 Ancient Khotan, Vol. I, p. 131. 



• Ruins of Desert Cathay, Vol. I, p. 152. 



