188 



THE ALMOND. 



{Atnygdalus communis L. 



And it came to pass that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; 

 and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, 

 and blossomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. — Numbers 17: 8. 



The almond is the fruit of a small tree 

 (Amygdalus communis) belonging to 

 the Rose family (Rosaceaej. The plant is 

 believed to be a native of northern Africa, 

 Persia and Turkestan. It occurs wild 

 in Sicily and Greece and is cultivated 

 throughout temperate Europe, including 

 England. 



The leaves of the almond tree are sim- 

 ple, broadly lanceolate, margins serrate, 

 bright green and stalked. The flowers 

 are nearly sessile, mostly solitary, petals 

 bright pink; otherwise similar to the 

 flowers of the rose family as seen in the 

 apple blossom, cherry blossom and the 

 wild rose. The fruit is a drupe or stone 

 fruit, resembling the" peach in its general 

 structural characters. It is, however, 

 much smaller, measuring about one and 

 one-half inch in length. As in the peach 

 the outer portion of the fruit coat (sarco- 

 carp) is fleshy, the inner portion (endo- 

 carp or putamen) is hard and encloses the 

 kernel or seed to which the term almond 

 is usually applied. The plant is very or- 

 namental, producing its beautiful flow- 

 ers in March before the leaves are devel- 

 oped. 



Two natural varieties of almonds are 

 quite universally recognized, the sweet 

 (A. communis var dulcis) and the bitter 

 (A. communis var amara). They resem- 

 ble each other so closely in general ap- 

 pearance that it is practically impossible 

 to distinguish between them. The prin- 

 cipal difference lies in the chemistry of 

 the kernels or seeds themselves. In the 

 bitter variety amygdalin is found, which 

 is practically wanting in the sweet va- 

 rietv. Some botanists describe quite a 



number of varieties. Karsten, for in- 

 stance, describes five varieties of A. com- 

 munis, namely, dulcis, amara, fragilis, 

 fiiacrocarpa and? persicoidesi. Boissier 

 in his Flora Orientalis describes as many 

 as seventeen distinct species. 



The almond tree is one of the oldest 

 of the cultivated plants. It was a great 

 garden favorite in and about Palestine. 

 It is frequently mentioned in the books 

 of Moses. In Exodus 25 : 34, we find 

 that the "candlestick shall have four 

 bowls made like unto almonds." As ex- 

 plained in the 8th verse of chapter 17 of 

 Numbers the blossoming rod of Aaron 

 was from an almond tree. Even to this 

 day Jews carry rods bearing almond blos- 

 soms to the synagogues on great festival 

 days. The Romans designated the al- 

 monds (the kernels or seeds with the hard 

 endocarp or shell) Nuces graecae (Greek 

 nuts), from which it is concluded that the 

 almond tree was brought to Italy from 

 Greece. Almond oil was known to the 

 ancient Greek and Roman writers. Pli- 

 nius and Dioscorides make reference to 

 the gum which exudes from the bark. 

 Karl der Grosse (Charlemagne) recom- 

 mended the cultivation of almonds in 

 Germany. In view of the fact that some 

 authorities state that the sweet variety is 

 a product of cultivation, it is interesting 

 to note that the two varieties have been 

 known equally long. The bitter variety 

 was described by Scribonius Largus and 

 Plinius. Alexander Trallianus described 

 the medicinal virtues of the oil of bitter 

 almonds. Palladinus gave directions 

 how to convert the bitter variety into the 

 sweet variety by methods of cultivation. 



