JUGLANDACEiE. 599 



central column ; styles 1 — 2, very short ; stigmas 2 — 4, unequal, fringed, sometimes ses- 

 sile and 4-lobed. Drupe l-seeded,the sarcocarp fibrous-fleshy and coherent or coriaceous 

 and dehiscent. Nut 2-valved or valveless. Seed erect, exalbuminous, 2 — 4-lobed at base, 

 and partially divided by dissepiments. Cotyledons oily. Radicle short, superior. 



These are all trees, with a watery or resinous juice, and furnished with al- 

 ternate, pinnate, exstipulate leaves. They are principally natives of North 

 America ; a few occur in Asia, among which is what is here called the Eng- 

 glish Walnut, so generally cultivated in Europe for the sake of its nuts. The 

 bark of most of them is acrid and purgative, as is also the rind of the fruit. 



Juglans. — Linn. 



Monoecious. Sterile ament imbricated ; bracts usually 5-parted ; calyx 5 — 6-parted ; 

 stamens 18 — 36. Fertile flowers, with the calyx 4-cleft, superior ; corolla of 4 minute 

 petals ; styles 1 — 2. Drupe with a fibrous-fleshy, indehiscent sarcocarp ; nut more or 

 less rugose, irregularly furrowed. 



These are large trees, mostly natives of North America, but the original 

 species, J. regia, on which the genus was founded, is indigenous to the 

 borders of the Caspian Sea. One species is officinal in the U. S. Pharma- 

 copoeia. 



J. cinerea, Linn. — Leaflets numerous, lanceolate, serrate, rounded at base, soft-pubes- 

 cent beneath; petioles villous. Fruit oblong-ovate, with a terminal projection, viscid and 

 hairy, but oblong, acuminate ; deep, and irregularly furrowed. 



Linn., Sp. PL; Torrey, Comp. 357; Bigelow, Med. BoL ii. 115, t. 32; 

 Carson, Pereira, Mat. Med. ii. 761 ; Lindley, Plor. Med. 307 ; J. cathartica, 

 Michaux, N. A. Sylva, i. 160. 



Common Names. — Butternut ; White Walnut. 



This tree, which is inferior in size to the Black Walnut, is found much 

 more plentifully in the Northern and Western than in the Middle States. In 

 the spring it abounds in a saccharine juice from which a good sugar can be 

 made. The fruit, when quite young, is made into pickles ; but are not equal 

 for this purpose to those of the English walnut. The kernel of the ripe nut 

 is oily, but pleasant-tasted. The bark is employed for dyeing wool ; it is very 

 acrid, and in a fresh state will inflame the skin. The officinal portion is the 

 inner bark, especially of the root, and should be collected in May or June. 

 It has a fibrous texture, a slight odour, and a bitter sub-acrid taste. It yields 

 its properties to boiling water. Dr. Carson states that Mr. S. Wetherill found 

 in it : Fixed oil, Resin, Saccharine matter, Lime, and Potass, a peculiar 

 principle, (extractive?) and Tannin. Dr. Bigelow, in his examination of it, 

 detected neither tannin or rosin. 



Medical Uses. — Butternut is a pleasant and mild cathartic, somewhat of 

 the character of Rhubarb, and is well suited to cases of costiveness, and other 

 bowel affections. It has obtained much celebrity in the treatment of dysen- 

 tery. It is always given in extract or decoction, never in substance. The 

 dose of the extract is from five to twenty grains, according to circumstances. 

 Dr. B. S. Barton was of opinion that it possesses somewhat of an anodyne 

 property (Collections). A decoction is said to be efficacious in murrain of 

 cattle, and yellow- water in horses. 



The J. nigra, or Black Walnut, has a styptic and acrid bark, seldom used 

 except for tinctorial purposes. The rind of the unripe fruit is said to remove 



