DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES, 163 



native trees. The average height of full grown trees is about 



35 or 40 feet. 



Liquidamhar styracifiua is the only North American 

 species. It grows most rapidly in moist or even wet situa- 

 tions, though it will accommodate itself to a dryer soil. 



The Walnut Tree. Juglans. 



Nat. Ord. Juglandacese. Liri. Syst. Monoecia, Polyandria. 



The three trees which properly come under this head, and 

 belong to the genus Juglans, are the Black walnut, the Euro- 

 pean walnut, and the Butternut. 



The Black walnut is one of the largest trees of our native 

 forests. In good soils, it often attains a stature of 60 or 70 

 feet, and a diameter of three or four feet in the trunk, with a 

 corresponding amplitude of branches. The leaves, about a 

 foot or eighteen inches in length, are composed of six or eight 

 pairs of opposite leaflets, terminated by an odd one. They 

 contain a very strong aromatic, which is emitted plentifully 

 when they are bruised. The large nut, always borne on the 

 extremity of the young shoots, is round, and covered with a 

 thick husk; which, instead of separating into pieces, and fal- 

 ling off like those of the hickory, rots away and decays grad- 

 ually. The kernel of the Black walnut, too well known to 

 need any description here, is highly esteemed, and is consid- 

 ered by many persons to possess a finer flavour than any 

 other walnut. 



The timber of this tree is very valuable : when well sea- 

 soned it is as durable as the White oak, and is less liable to 

 the attacks of sea- worms, etc., than almost any other ; it is 

 therefore highly esteemed in naval architecture for certain 

 purposes. But its great value is in cabinet-work. Its col- 



