86 FAMILIAR TREES 



points of distinction between the genus Juglans 

 and the Hickories (Garya), in Avhich three catkins 

 are produced from a shoot, formed during the 

 same year, that also bears female flowers and 

 leaves. The cylindrical catkin of the Walnut, 

 which is about three inches long and three-quarters 

 of an inch in diameter, bears a great number of 

 closely-packed and minute flowers of a simple 

 structure. They each have a short stalk, an ad- 

 herent bract, two lateral bracteoles, and a perianth 

 of six leaves, enclosing an indefinite number of 

 nearly sessile stamens. 



The female flowers are borne in a cluster ~ of 

 four to eight at the apex of the leafy shoots of 

 the same year. They each have an adherent 

 perianth of four leaves in two pairs, besides their 

 bracteoles, and the twofold nature of the fruit 

 is indicated by the relatively large, fleshy stigmas. 



The fruit of the Walnuts and Hickories is un- 

 like that of any other group. It has a fleshy, 

 green outer husk or " epicarp," which in the 

 former bursts, when ripe, irregularly, and within 

 this is a woody, two-valved stone or " endocarp," 

 which is produced internally into a membranous 

 partition, deeply dividing and crumpling the fleshy 

 cotyledons of the kernel or seed. ' This seed is 

 enveloped in a bitter brown testa, and a more deli- 

 cate cream-coloured inner coat, and its primary 

 root and shoot can be detected near its centre. 



Walnuts have long been preserved, either whole, 

 when unripe, or the kernels only, as sweetmeats; 

 but with us the young fruits are more used as a 



