BLADDER-NUT TREE. 



STAPHYLEA. 



CELASTRINiE. PENTANDRIA TRIGYNIA. 



Staph^ea, from its bladder-like seed-vessels. In French^ Ba- 



guenandes a pateniostres, from the friars using the seeds to make 

 their beads of ; by tlie Italians, pistacia salnisticke ; and by our 

 own country people, St. Antony's Nut, Wild Pistacia, or Bladder- 

 nuts, from the form of the case which covers the seeds. 



The Common Bladder-Nut Tree, Staphyloea pinnata, 

 is a small low tree, somewhat like an elder, which is 

 found in hedges, especially in the North of England ; 

 but there is some doubt if it was originally a native ; 

 and it has apparently been introduced from Asia Minor, 

 Italy, or France, in all which countries it is not uncommon. 



The wood of this tree is very hard and white; but 

 the plant is most remarkable for its fruit, which consists 

 of two or three bladders, like the calyces of the winter 

 cherries, only of a pale green colour, which are joined 

 together on a stem ; each containing one or two very 

 hard seeds, about the size of a small hazel-nut, covered 

 with a woody, as it were, varnished coat of a reddish 

 colour, and containing a greenish kernel, which is at first 

 sweet to the taste, but at length becomes nauseous, and 

 often provokes sickness. 



The chief use of this tree, which appears to be the 

 Stophylodeiidron of Pliny, is to form hedges, for which 

 purpose it answers very well, and makes a very pleasing 



