14 



TREES 



properties., Also useful in 

 nervous disorders, intestinal 

 colic, and as an insecticide 

 (said to drive away fleas and 

 lice). The small limbs are 

 used today on chicken roosts 

 as a louse preventitive. The 

 leaves are good flavor addi- 

 tives to stews, roasts, etc. 

 Hung up with garlic to dry, 

 they prevent molding. 



Str. Wd. 

 Oak 



Calif. 



Str. Wd. 

 Oak 



Calif. 



T-12. 

 BUCKEYE, 



CALIFORNIA 

 Aesculus cali- 



fornica; Buckeye Fam. 12'-25' high tree, with 5 finger-like, light 

 green leaflets to each leaf ; beautiful white flowers in candle- stick- 

 like spikes, turning into round, brown balls in the fruit; leaves 

 turn bronze in August. Grows in California up to 3000' altitude. 



While the flowers are bad for bees, and the leaves eaten by cows 

 produce poor-flavored milk, the tree is useful otherwise. Unripe 

 seeds were crushed and scattered into streams to stupifythe fish. 

 Ripe seeds can be crushed and leached, after roasting which takes out 

 most of the poison. Water must be poured over the ground meal 

 at least ten times, but the best leaching is done by letting water in 

 a small stream run over the meal for ten days. The meal is then 

 cooked as a pudding. 



Leaves were steeped to 

 make a tea as a remedy for 

 congestion of the lungs and 

 varicose veins. Seeds were 

 buried in swampy, cold ground 

 during the winter to free them 

 of bitter quality, and eaten in 

 the spring boiled. The wood 

 was used for fire-making. 



T-13. CALIFORNIA WAL- 

 NUT, Juglans californica . Wal- 



nut Fam. 15'-35' high tree or <^^:' ' 



shrub; dark bark; 9-17 leaflets. 

 The brown nuts are edible. 



NUT 



