BULLETIN 231] WALNUT CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 123 



THE ENGLISH WALNUT. 



(Juglans regia.) 



"Juglans regia, which is a large and lofty tree with stout, spread- 

 ing branches, is probably indigenous to the mountains of Greece, in 

 Armenia, in the region south of the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, on 

 the northwestern and northern Himalayas, and in Burmah (A. de Can- 

 dolle, Origine des Plantes Cultivees, 342). It was cultivated in north- 

 ern India in very early times, and carried then to China, where it is 

 still grown on a large scale (Bretschneider, On the Value and Study 

 of Chinese Botanical Works, 16; Early European Researches into the 

 Flora of China, 174). It is probably not indigenous, however, to China, 

 nor is there any evidence that this tree is a native of Japan, as many 

 authors have believed, although it is occasionally seen in that country 

 in the neighborhood of human habitations. The Greeks cultivated a 

 variety of this tree obtained from Persia ; the Romans carried it to 

 Italy, whence its cultivation as a fruit tree has spread through all the 

 countries of southern and western Europe, the Pacific states of North 

 America. Chile, and other temperate regions. The nut of the wild tree 

 is small, with a thick, hard shell and small kernel, and is scarcely 

 edible."* 



The walnut tree is naturally of rapid and thrifty growth, and forms 

 an attractive, decidedly ornamental tree, with a clean trunk and tall, 

 spreading top. The bark of the young growth is usually of a dark 

 green color with a smooth, glossy appearance, that of the larger limbs 

 light colored or nearly white and fairly smooth, with a trunk of the 

 same appearance, the bark remaining smooth until the tree becomes 

 of considerable age and size. The fruit is a true nut, being borne in 

 an outer, fibrous, rather fleshy enveloping husk or shuck, which opens 

 and allows the nut to drop out freely when matured. The walnut in 

 its best commercial form is one of the best of nuts, being of good size, 

 attractive appearance, easily cracked, and having a kernel of pleasing 

 flavor and attractive appearance, which is readily removed from the 

 shell. It is also healthful and nutritious and a valuable article of food. 



The foliage of the tree is composed of large, compound, pinnate 

 leaves, which are deciduous in the fall. The flowers are of two kinds, 

 staminate and pistillate (male and female), both born on the same tree. 

 The staminate blossoms are born on long, pendulous catkins, which 

 develop in spring from naked buds already formed on the twigs of 

 the preceding year. These catkins contain an abundance of light, dusty, 

 yellow pollen, which is carried by the wind to the pistillate or fruiting 



* Sargent, Silva of North America. 



