432 THE WALNUT. 



THE FEMALE " FLOWER " AND FRUIT. 



By the end of May the new shoots are furnished with leaves of 



considerable size, and the male catkins are dying and falling from the 



Uree. Now the beautiful female flowers appear in their places at the 



end of the shoot, usually in pairs. The flowers are borne on a short 



stout stalk, and consist of an ovary, enclosed in a brown 



calyx with a tapering neck, from either side of which 



project two large re-curved stigmas. The stigmas are of 



a fine spongy texture ; in some species they are white 



in colour, in one case rose-pink. 



Early in September the fruit is a bright green, quite smooth but 

 not glossy, irregular in outline and bluntly oval. Early in October, 

 when it is ripe, it turns brown, and splits open, showing the nut 

 within, with its hard uneven light-brown shell containing a puckered 

 white kernel. 



THE WALNUT (Juglans Regia). 



The Walnut appears to have been introduced into Great Britain 

 in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It grows rapidly, and reaches 

 a height of about sixty feet, while the bole may be six or seven 

 feet in diameter. It prefers a rich soil, or one that is dry and 

 chalky, and is subject to injury from severe frosts. 



The nuts, whether gathered ripe or unripe for pickling, are 

 valuable. The wood is well adapted and much used for furniture and 

 tor gun-stocks : it is light, tough, and durable, the graining is very 

 beautiful, and there is much variety in its rich brown colouring. 

 The grain is coarse, but it will take a high polish. The wood of 

 young trees is light in colour. The leaves, fruit, and bark, when 

 handled, leave a dark stain difficult to remove. 



