Wild Olive and Almond. 43 
gathered along the sea-shore, and remotely suggests a straw- 
berry. 
Wild Olive (Forestiera neo-\sexicana).—This is a tall willow- 
like shrub, found in springy places on the borders of the Mojave 
Desert. It bears an abundance of small fruits which, from their 
botanical relationship to the olive, have attracted some attention. 
Experiments to determine its standing as a possible root for the 
olive have been suggested. 
Wild Nuts of California—The wild nuts of California are of 
very little commercial importance. The wild almond (Prunus 
Andersonit) of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada is only of 
botanical interest, and little more can be said of the California 
filbert (Corylus rostrata, var. Californica), which has none of the 
quality of the improved filberts nor even of the wild hazelnut. 
Our chestnut (Castanopsis chrysophylla) has a sweet kernel, but 
a hard shell, almost like a hazelnut. Our native walnut (Juglans 
Californica) is better in flavor than the Eastern black walnut, but 
its hard shell makes it of little commercial account in competi- 
tion with better, cultivated nuts. 
The one native nut which is regularly sold in the local 
market is the “pinenut”—seeds of several species of Pacific Coast 
pines. Their flavor is somewhat resinous, but is agreeable. 
The seeds of twe species of palms, I/ashingtonia filifera and 
the Lower California Erythea armata, are sought for by the In- 
dians, who also eat the sweetish fruit of the Yucca Afojavensis, 
which somewhat resembles in shape the banana, and in flavor 
the fig, and is called the “wild date.” 
The Indians also use the acorns of several species of Cali- 
fornia oaks as food, extracting the bitterness by soaking in water, 
and then making a rude bread of the acorn meal. 
The ‘“jajoba” (Simmondsia Catifornica) is a low shrub, the 
fresh fruits of which, deprived of their seed-coats, are eaten like 
almonds, and when dried by fire and ground they are used as a 
beverage, in the form of tablets made up with sugar, or as a 
simple infusion. Fire-dried seeds contain 48.30 per cent of fatty 
matter; the oil is suitable for food and of good quality, and pos- 
sesses the immense advantage of not turning rancid. In Lower 
California it is prepared by boiling with water. The French are 
recommending it for cultivation in their North African colonies. 
Cactus—The common cactus (Opuntia Engelmanni) bears a 
sweet edible fruit which the Indians dry in large quantities for 
winter use. By long boiling they make a sauce, which, after 
slight fermentation, they consider especially nutritious and stim- 
ulating. 
