138 Kansas Academy of Science. 



AN ABERRANT WALNUT. 



A Preliminary Report. 



By Ira D. Cardiff, Washburn College, Topeka. 



\ BERRANT nuts which were borne upon trees that are ap- 

 -^-^ parently walnut {Juglaus niger) were reported from two 

 localities (northern Indiana and southern Tennessee). These nuts, 

 externally, at least, are very different in appearance from a walnut 

 (see figure). They are divided transversely into two almost equal 

 halves. The basal half, or that portion which is attached to the 

 stem, resembles a walnut, having a glabrous, roughly dotted, some- 

 what spongy hull. Upon drying it becomes irregularly wrinkled 

 and roughened with small pits and elevations. The opposite half, 

 on the other hand, possesses a smooth exocarp of firm texture, 

 without dots, and remains smooth upon drying. Furthermore, this 

 outer half is marked by four deep furrows running longitudinally 

 and converging at the apex, like the four valves of a hickory {Hicora) 

 nut exocarp. In fact, this half of the nut has, externally, all the 

 appearance of a hickory nut, though the furrows above mentioned 

 do not extend entirely through to the exocarp. 



There is a transverse groove at the meeting of these two halves 

 and extending back for a millimeter or more under the basal exo- 

 carp. So closely did this basal and apical half resemble a walnut 

 and a hickory nut, respectively, that the parties who found one of 

 them was certain that the nut was the result of a cross between 

 these two genera, though they had jio further evidence than the 

 appearance of the nut for this supposition. 



The Indiana tree has borne these peculiar nuts for seven or 

 eight years at least, while the Tennessee tree is said to have borne 

 such fruit for forty years. Both trees have been visited by the 

 writer, and growing experiments are being conducted with ma- 

 terial from the same. 



Information in regard to any unusual behavior in the fruiting of 

 walnuts is earnestly solicited. 



