JUGLANDACE^. 



Nat. syst. ed. 2. p.\SQ. 



JUGLANS. 



Flowers monoecious. ^ amentaceous. Bracts scale-like, 

 adhering to the sepals and thus having the appearance of being 

 toothed. Stamens 18-24; filaments very short ; anthers with a 

 broad connective, opening longitudinally. $ clustered, or soli- 

 tary. Calyx superior, 4-toothed. Petals 4, minute. Ovary 

 1 -celled, with a single erect ovule ; stigmas 2, recurved. Drupe 

 inferior, with the sarcocarp fleshy and spontaneously splitting 

 off the bony 2-valved furrowed stone. Seed erect with deeply 

 corrugated cotyledons. 



631. J. cinerea Linn, sp.pl. 1415. Jacq. ic. rar. i. t. 192. — 

 Bigelmv med. hot. iii. t. 32. — J. cathartica Mich, arbres forest. 

 i. 165. — Forests in the United States. (Butternut.) 



Leaves pinnate, very long, of 15-17 leaflets, each of which is 

 2 or 3 inches long, rounded at base, acuminate, finely serrate and 

 downy. The flowers appear in May before the leaves are expanded to 

 their full size. The barren flowers hang in large catkins from the sides 

 of the last year's shoots, near their extremities. The scales which com- 

 pose them are oblong and deeply cleft on each side into about 3 teeth 

 or segments. The anthers are about 8 or 10 in number, oblong and 

 nearly sessile. The fertile flowers grow in a short spike at the end of 

 the new shoot; they are sessile and universally pubescent and viscid; 

 when fully grown, they seem to consist of a large oblong ovary and a 

 forked feathery style. The top of the ovary, however, presents an 

 obscurely 4-toothed calyx. Within this is a corolla of 4 narrow 

 lanceolate petals growing to the sides of the style. The style divides 

 into 2 large, diverging, feathery stigmas nearly as long as the ovary. 

 These flowers are somewhat later than the catkins in their appearance. 

 Fruit sessile, several together on the sides and extremity of a long 

 peduncle, of a green colour, brown when ripe, oblong oval, pointed, 

 hairy, and extremely viscid. The nut is of a dark colour, carinated on 

 both sides, sharp pointed, its whole surface roughened by deep indent- 

 ures and sharp prominences. The kernel is more regular than in 

 most nuts of its kind, is very oily, pleasant to the taste when fresh, but 

 acquires a rancid taste by age. Bigelow. — Inner bark, especially of 

 the root, a very mild, innocent and efficacious laxative ; usually em- 

 ployed in America in the form of an extract. Bark of the stem said to 

 be rubefacient. 



632. J. regia Linn. sp. pi. 1415. Willd. iv. 455 Persia. 



(Common Walnut.) 



307 x 2 



