328 NATURAL HISTORY. 



ployed in tanning, and the bitter, astringent principle it 

 contains is used for medicine in many diseases. Acorns, 

 roasted, are used by many of the peasantry of Europe as 

 a substitute for coffee. Also useful as mast for swine. 

 A relative species is found in Persia, Lesser Asia, etc., 

 viz., the Gall Oak (Quercus infectoria), the leaf-stalks 

 of which, being pierced by the gallwasp, the sap, exud- 

 ing through the puncture, forms the ink or oak-galls, 

 well known in commerce; the Cork Oak (Quercus 

 suber), whose bark is well known as cork- wood, grows 

 in Spain and Italy, and the Holm or Stone Oak, with 

 its evergreen leaves and edible fruit, which tastes like 

 filberts, are all members of the Cupuliferas family. h. 



The next is 



The Walnut Tree (Juglans regia). Leaves alter- 

 nate, pinnate, nine-paired ; leaflets ovate-oblong ; fruit, a 

 dry drupe, with a wooden or bony nutshell, containing a 

 large, four-lobed, oily kernel. Originally a native of 

 Persia ; now grows everywhere in Europe and America 

 within the temperate zone. The wood of this noble tree. 

 Black Walnut, dense and fine-grained, rivals the cele- 

 brated mahogany in the manufacture of furniture. The 

 seeds, or ripe fruit, are eatable, and generally esteemed ; 

 they yield a considerable quantity of oil. The unripe 

 fruit of the English and White Walnut make an ex- 

 cellent pickle, and the large stem-root, beautifully veined, 

 serves for inlaying or fine carving. T> 



The Hazel (Corylus avellana) is a large shrub or 

 small tree ; leaves roundisli-ovate ; stem six to ten feet 

 high, branching in erect twigs from base. Flowers stam- 

 inate, pistillate, separate ; the latter arranged in catkins. 

 Furnishes the pleasant fruit esteemed as hazel-nuts or fil- 



