AMYGDALUS, Almondtree. 117 



culminating in a lemon-yellow tip formed by two olive-shaped capsules that contain a 

 very fine powder of ovoid particles. When they open up, they look like the caps of certain 

 mushrooms. 4°. The center of the flower contains a pistil consisting of a conical downy 

 ovary & a cylindrical style six to eight lignes long crowned by a yellow hemispherical 

 stigma. When the ovary enlarges & the fruit is set, the calyx detaches from the stem & 

 falls off. It's then apparent that it was perforated at the bottom. The almond flower is 

 hermaphroditic, and it contains all the essential components for fruiting. Its fruit appears 

 sooner than that of any other fruit tree, between the beginning of February and the 

 beginning of March, depending on how long the rigors of the winter have lasted. 



The ovary becomes an ovoid fruit, bigger next to the stem than at its other end, 

 flattened around the middle and fastened to the branch by its short & very secure stem. 

 The skin, quite thickly covered with very fine hair or down, surrounds the flesh, or rather 

 a husk, about one ligne thick, that is hard, dry, bitter, or tasteless. Inside the husk there is 

 a woody pit that has the same shape as the fruit and is flattened on the sides. One of its 

 edges is rounded and the other edge has a prominent ridge that extends from one end to 

 the other and terminates in a point. It's slightly hollowed at the end where the stalk was 

 inserted. The pit consists of two parallel plates separated by a diploe along its entire 

 length. The outer shell is perforated by irregular holes. It opens into two parts lengthwise 

 along the ridge that runs along one edge & a small groove along the opposite edge. Inside 

 the pit is an almond with brown skin & with several large fibers running lengthwise. It 

 contains two white lobes & a germ. This almond is the only edible part of the fruit. 



