CHAPTER IX. 



MISCELLANEOUS NUTS — EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE. 



In the following list of plants there are a few that 

 in no way can be considered as related to the true nut- 

 bearing trees and shrubs; but as the word "nut" has 

 been attached as a prefix or affix in commerce, or else- 

 where, they are admitted, even if for no other purpose 

 than to designate their true position in the vegetable 

 kingdom. For convenience, they are recorded in alpha- 

 betical order, the most familiar of the common names — 

 ivhere there are more than one — being given precedence,, 

 the botanical or scientific following, with a brief descrip- 

 tion, as my limited space will not permit of anything 

 more extended. 



It is not claimed that this catalogue of nuts is com- 

 plete, but it is probably as near it as any heretofore 

 compiled and published, and it may serve as the 

 basis for a better and more extended one at some future 

 time. 



AooRN, OR OAK NUT. — The fruit of the oak, Quer- 

 cus {CupuUferoe), monoecious, evergreen and deciduous 

 trees and shrubs, with alternate and simple straight- 

 veined leaves. A very large genus, of about two hun- 

 dred and fifty species, mainly in the temperate region of 

 the northern hemisphere. There are some forty species 

 native of the United States. The nuts are, on the 

 whole, rather too harsh and bitter flavored to be es- 

 teemed or considered edible by civilized nations at the 

 present day, but in former times some of the oak nuts 

 were often an important article among the garnered food 



254 



