MISCELLAKEOUS NUTS. 261 



sweefc-eoented, and produced in terminal panicles. The 

 fruit is kidney-shaped, and borne on a fleshy receptacle, 

 and when ripe of reddish or yellow color. The nut 

 proper is enclosed in a leathery covering, consisting of 

 two layers, between which is deposited a thick, caustic, 

 oily substance, exceedingly acrid ; but this is eliminated 

 by heat, so that when the kernels are roasted they have 

 a pleasant flavor and are highly esteemed for dessert. 

 Some care is required in roasting these nuts,- as the 

 fumes given off during this operation cause inflamma- 

 tion of the ejek. The nuts also yield an excellent oil, 

 very similar to the best olive oil. Although originally 

 found only in the West Indies, this nut is now widely 

 distributed throughout the tropical countries of the 

 Bast ; in fact, naturalized in all hot climates, and is also 

 under trial in southern Florida. 



Caucasian walnut. Winged walnut. — The 

 winged fruit of Pterocarya fraxinifolia,, also known as 

 P. Caucasica of nurserymen's catalogues. It belongs to 

 the walnut family {Juglandacem), and is a tree growing 

 thirty to forty feet high, somewhat resembling the com- 

 mon ash {Fraxinus). It is a pretty, hardy, ornamental 

 tree, thriving only in moist soils. Seeds on winged nuts 

 produced in long, drooping racemes, but of no special 

 value. Introduced into England from Caucasus in 1800, 

 and now plentiful here in nurseries. 



Chestnut. — See Chapter V; also Horse-chestnut, 

 and Moreton Bay, Tahiti and Water chestnuts. 



Chocolate nut or bean. — The seeds of a small 

 tropical tree, Theohroma Cacao, of the chocolate nut 

 family {StercuUacem). Indigenous to tropical America, 

 but now cultivated more or less extensively in all hot 

 climates. The tree grows from fifteen to twenty feet 

 high, with long, pointed, smooth leaves. The flowers 

 are small, yellow, and produced from the old wood of 

 both stems and branches, succeeded by a pod-like fruit 



