384 THE SWEET-GALE FAMILY. 



CXXII.— THE WALNUT FAMILY. Juglanddceai. 



Anotlier small family of noble trees, found almost exclusively in 

 North America, though the best known, or common walnut, the 

 Juglans regia, is a native of Persia and Cashmere. This delightful 

 and precious tree is immediately known by the rich aromatic odour of 

 its immense pinnate leaves, formed of about nine leaflets, which are 

 oval, glabrous, yellowish green, and a little serrated. It is one of the 

 last trees to come in leaf, and is very soon dismantled again, being 

 unable to withstand the nipping of autumnal frosts. The male flowers 

 grow in veiy long and handsome pendulous catkins ; the females in 

 sessile and terminal clusters of the same colour, both growing upon 

 the same tree, appearing in company with the young foliage, and 

 about the time of the blooming of the purple rhododendron. The 

 walnut is not an uncommon tree, especially near old halls, and other 

 residences of note, and in good seasons ripens its dainty fruit freely 

 and abundantly. There are fine ones at Ashley Hall, and in the 

 neighbourhood of Lymm and Statham. Two or three stand by the 

 roadside near Didsbury College. The hickory and butter nuts of the 

 shops are the produce of the Canja alba and oltvee/ormis, the former 

 of which is sometimes grown for ornament. 



CXXIIL— THE SWEET-GALE FAMILY. Myricdcea. 



Leafy shrubs or small trees, covered with resinous glands, which 

 exhale a strongly aromatic and pleasant odour. About twenty species 

 are known, all extra-European except the common sweet-gale, which 

 is also the only one known to ordinary botany. This, the most spicy 

 of British plants, belongs to the Flora of Manchester, both in the wild 

 state and in gardens. The stems arc shrubby and branched, two to 

 three feet high, and well covered with alternate, oblong or lanceolate 

 leaves, broader upwards, and slightly toothed towards the extremity, 

 and often rather downy on the under side. The flowers are collected 

 in egg-shaped and sessile catkins, about half an inch in length, and 

 dispersed along the ends of the branches, the males and females 

 growing on different individuals, and both appearing before the leaves 

 come out. When ripe, the female catkins are somewhat lengthened. 

 The scales are of a pretty light-brown colour, edged with white. 



