CHAPTER II. 



THE ALMOXD. 



Amygdalus, Tournefort. Xame supposed to be de- 

 rived from amysso, to lacerate, because of the prominent 

 sharp, knifelike margin of one edge of the deeply pitted, 

 wrinkled nut. Martins, an Italian botanist, suggests 

 that the name came from the Hebrew word shakad, sig- 

 nifying vigilant, or to awake, because after the rigors of 

 winter the almond tree is one of the earliest to hail the 

 coming of spring, with its flowers. The common Eng- 

 lish name is from the Latin amandola, corrupted from 

 amygdala. In French it is amaudicr ; in German, 

 mandel ; Portuguese, amendoa ; Spanish, almendro ; 

 Italian, amandola, mandalo, mandorla, etc. ; Dutch, 

 amende! ; Chinese, him-ho-gin. 



Under the natural classification of plants the almond 

 belongs to the order Rosacece, and in the tribe Drupacece. 

 Linnaeus placed the peach and almond in the same 

 genus, and they are now generally considered to be only 

 varieties of one species, the wild almond tree is prob- 

 ably the parent from which all the cultivated peaches 

 and nectarines have descended. In most of our modern 

 botanical works these fruits are classed as a sub-section 

 of Prunus, the plum. They are mainly deciduous 

 shrubs, or small trees. The flowers are variable, both 

 in size and color ; but in the almond they are usually 

 somewhat larger than in the peach, almost sessile, and 

 from separate scaly buds on the shoots of the preceding 

 season, appearing in early spring, before or with the 

 unfolding leaves, the latter being folded lengthwise in 



12 



