BOOK XV. XXIII. 85-xxiv. 88 



colic apple and is only valiied as a medicine ; it is 



a steady bearer and has a very small fruit ; the 



tree diifers in appearance from the other kinds, and 



the leaves are almost the same as those of the plane. 



Xone of the sorbs bear before their third year. Cato R.R. vii. 4. 



records that even sorbs can be preserved in must. 



XXIV. The walnut has won from the service-berry Widmu. 

 in point of size the place that it has yielded to it 

 in popularity, although the walnut also accom- 

 panies the Fescennine songs sung at weddings. 

 The whole nut is considerably smaller than a pine- 

 cone, but the kernel is larger in the same pro- 

 portion. Moreover the walnut has a distinction of 

 structure that is pecuUar to it, in that it is pro- 

 tected by a double covering, consisting first of a 

 cushion-shaped cup and then of a woody shell. 

 This is the reason why walnuts have become 

 emblems consecrated to weddings," because their 

 progeny is protected in so many ways — a more 

 Hkely explanation of the custom than that it is 

 due to the rattHng rebound * which it makes when it 

 falls on the floor. The Greek names for the wahnit 

 prove that it also was sent us from Persia by the 

 kings, the best kind of walnut being called in Greek 

 the ' Persian ' and the ' royal,' and these were their 

 original names. It is generally agreed that the 

 caryon walnut gets its name from the headacJie '^ that 

 it causes because of its oppressive scent. The shell 

 of the walnut is used for dyeing wool, and the young 

 nuts while just forming supply a red hair-dye — this 

 was discovered from their staining the hands when 

 handled. Age makes them oily. The only differ- 

 ence betwcen the various kinds of walnuts consists in 

 the hardness or brittleness of the shell and in its 



349 



