99 PRUNUS AMYGDALUS 



end ; testa reddish brown, thin,, rough, with ramifying veins from 

 the chalaza ; embryo with a small blunt radicle, and 'two very 

 large plane-convex cotyledons with the flat plumule between them ; 

 no endosperm. 



There are no structural characters distinguishing the sweet and 

 bitter almond trees, which cannot, therefore, in spite of the 

 different qualities of their seeds, be separated, even as varieties ; 

 the bitter almond seed is somewhat smaller than the best varieties 

 of the sweet kind. 



Habitat. The almond tree is considered to be a native of 

 Morocco, Syria, Persia, and Turkestan; it is doubtfully wild in 

 Sicily, Greece, and Anatolia, and is cultivated throughout tem- 

 perate Europe, including England, where it ripens its fruit in the 

 south only. As an ornamental, early-flowering tree it is very 

 familiar, producing its- beautiful flowers in March. The ovary is 

 very frequently abortive, the flowers being practically male, in 

 English gardens. 



Amygdalus, as a genus, is distinguished from Prunus only by 

 possessing a leathery separable shell in the place of a soft pulp 

 connected with the stone. Boissier, in his ' Flora Orientalis/ 

 describes 17 species. 



Boiss., Fl. Orient, ii, p. 641 ; Seringe in DC. Prod., ii, p. 531 ; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 231. 



Official Parts and Names. 1. AMYGDALA DULCIS. The seed of 

 the sweet almond tree, Amygdalus communis, var. dulcis, DC ; 

 2. AMYGDALA AMAEA. The seed of the bitter almond tree, 

 Amygdalus communis, var. amara, DG ; 3. OLEUM AMYGDALA. 

 The oil expressed from bitter and sweet almonds (B. P.). 1. The 

 seeds (Amyydala dulces) ; 2. The seeds (Amygdala amarte) 

 (I. P.). 1. AMYGDALA DULCIS. The kernel of the fruit; 2. 

 AMYGDALA AMAEA. The kernel of the fruit ; 3. OLEUM AMYGDALA 

 EXPEESSUM. The fixed oil obtained from the kernel of the fruit 

 of Amygdalus communis; 4. OLEUM AMYGDALA AMAE^;. The 

 volatile oil obtained from the kernel of the fruit of Amygdalus 

 communis, variety amara (U. S. P.). 



1. AMYGDALA DULCES. Sweet Almonds. These seeds have a 





