THE WALNUT. 



Jti'glans re'gia L. 



At the first glance we seem in the name Walnut 

 to have an etymological solecism. Whilst, however, 

 the Wall-flower is a flower that grows commonly 

 on walls, the Walnut (a name practically identical 

 with that borne by the tree in Germany) is the 

 Welsh, foreign, or - Italian nut, the Italians being 

 to the Germans of the Continent the foreign 

 neighbours that the Britons of Wales were to our 

 English ancestors. 



The Walnut was so valued by the Romans^ 

 both as yielding a furniture wood and as a fruit- 

 bearing tree, that they probably introduced it both 

 into Germany and into Britain; but it is not a 

 native of Italy. Its original home seems to have 

 been the north of Persia, and its Greek names, 

 " Persicon " and " Basilicon," indicate this origin 

 and the esteem in which it was held. From the 

 latter name is derived its specific name of "regia"' 

 or royal. According to Pliny, the tree was also 

 caUed " Caryon " (the origin of the name Ca'rya, 

 the Hickory), from the drowsy feeling in the head 

 produced by the smell of its leaves; but possibly 

 this name may be due, as Cowley suggests, to the 

 resemblance of the kernel to the form of the 

 brain. 



The Walnut is said to have been one of the 



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