MISCELLANEOUS NUTS. 275 



fras. It is known under various botanical names, but 

 Laurelia sempervirens is, perhaps, the most familiar, 



California Nutmeg, or Stinking Nutmeg, is the 

 nnt-like seed of Torreya Californica, a small tree of 

 the yew family {Taxacece). The fruit is fi'om an inch 

 to an inch and a half long, with a fleshy rind enclosing 

 a hard, long nut, which is slightjy grooved like a nut- 

 meg. The fruit, leaves and wood are strongly scented, 

 hence the name of "stinking nutmeg," or "stinking 

 yew." Another species, the T. taxifolia, is a native of 

 Florida. 



Oil nut. — The fruit of a low-branching, deciduous 

 native shrub, growing three to ten feet high, with alter- 

 nate leaves and small greenish flowers in terminal spikes. 

 It is the Pyrularia oleifera of Gray, and Hamiltonia 

 oleifera of Muhlenberg. The fruit is in the form of a 

 pear-shaped drupe, about an inch long, the small seed 

 or nut with an oily kernel of strong acrid taste ; of no 

 value. This shrub is found on shady banks in the 

 mountains of Pennsylvania, and southward into Georgia. 



Paradise nut. — See Sapucaia nut. 



Pkasut, groundnut, goober. — The well-known 

 frnit of ArarMs hypogcea, a low-growing annual belong- 

 ing to the pulse or pea family {Leguminoscs), supposed 

 to be a native of South America, but now extensively 

 cultivated in nearly all semi-tropical counti-ies and 

 wherever the summers are long enough to insure the 

 ripening of the seeds. Extensively cultivated in Vir- 

 ginia, south and westward. Too well known to require 

 any further comment or notice here. 



Pecan nut. — See Chap. VII. 



Pbkea nut. —See Souari nut. 



Peruvian nut. — See Nutmegs. 



Physic nut. — The seeds of Jatropha Curcas, a 

 small tree of the spurgewort family {EuphorbiacecB). It 

 is native of some of the West Indies and warmer parts 



