212 



TREES GROWING IN RICH SOIL. 



Gymndcladus diolca. 



turn to a bronze-green. In the au- 

 tumn they again change to bright, 

 clear yellow. Nor is it only in one 

 particular year that these colours 

 succeed each other. At whatever 

 time we return to the tree, no matter 

 how long afterwards, we shall find 

 it telling the same story. A spray of 

 its doubly-compound leaves readily 

 adapts itself to conventional design- 

 ing. The curved pods remain un- 

 opened on the boughs throughout 

 the winter, when the tree has a la- 

 mentably dead and stump-like look. 

 Their seeds were at one time used 

 to make a beverage which was 

 thought to be something like coffee. 



BLACK WALNUT. (Plate CXIV.) 

 Jitglans nigra. 



FAMILY SHAPE HEIGHT RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Walnut. Rounded; branches, 30-60-150 feet. Mass. southward April, May. 



very thick. and westward. Fruit: October. 



Bark : blackish; rough ; broadly ridged. Twigs : pubescent. Leaves : com- 

 pound; alternate; with stalks from one to two feet long, which are slightly pubes- 

 cent ; odd-pinnate, with from thirteen to twenty-three leaflets; ovate- 

 lanceolate; taper-pointed at the apex and rounded or slightly cordate at the 

 base; the sides often unequal, and the lower pair of leaflets smaller than the 

 others; sharply toothed; yellowish green above and glabrous, paler below and 

 pubescent. Fruit: large ; globose; solitary; the husk greenish yellow when 

 ripe and dotted with brownish red; spongy and decaying to release the nut. 

 Nut: black; deeply and sharply furrowed, and containing a rich, highly 

 flavoured kernel. 



It has been estimated that fully one hundred years are re- 

 quired for this tree to attain the ample proportions necessary 

 for a valuable timber tree. Then the axeman who long has had 

 his eye on it, lays low the result of its patient, unerring growth. 

 How pathetic is this defenselessness of the tree against man ! 



