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BLACK WALNUT. 
JuGLANs NIGRA. J . folîoHs qumdenîs, subcoî'dütîs, supernè angustalis, serratis ; 
fructu globoso, punctato, scabriusculo ; nuce corrugalâ. 
This tree is known in all parts of the United States where it grows, 
and to the French of Upper and Lower Louisiana, by no other name than 
Black Walnut. East of the Alleghany mountains, the most northern 
point at which it appears, is about Goshen in the State of New Jersey, in 
the latitude of 40° 50^*. West of the Mountains, it exists abundantly two 
degrees further north, in that portion of Genessee -which is comprised 
between the 77th and 79th degrees of longitude. This observation, as I 
shall have occasion to remark, is applicable to several other vegetables 
the northern limit of whose appearance varies with the climate, and this 
becomes milder in advancing towards the west. The Black Walnut is 
multiplied in the forests about Philadelphia, and with the exception of the 
lower parts of the Southern States, where the soil is too sandy, or too wet 
as in the Swamps, it is met with to the banks of the Mississippi, through- 
out an extent of 2000 miles. East of the Alleghany mountains in Virginia, 
and in the upper part of the Carolinas and of Georgia, it is chiefly confined 
to the valleys where the soil is deep and fertile, and which are watered 
by creeks and rivers : in the western country, in Genessee, and in the 
States of Ohio and Kentucky, where the soil in general is very rich, it 
grows in the forests, with the Coffee-tree, Honey Locust, Red Mulberry, 
Locust Shellbark Hickory, Black Sugar Maple, Hack Berry, and Red Elm ; 
all which trees prove the goodness of the soil in which they are found. 
It is in these countries that the Black Walnut displays its full proportions. 
On the banks of the Ohio, and on the islands of thatbeautiful river, I have 
often seen trees of 3 or 4 feet in diameter and 60 or 70 feet in height. It 
is not rare to find them of the thickness of 6 or 7 feet. Its powerful vegeta- 
tion clearly points out this, as one of the largest trees of America. When 
it stands insidated, its branches, extending themselves horizontally to a 
great distance, spread into a spacious head, which gives it a very majestic 
appearance. 
The leaves of the Black Walnut when bruised emit a strong aromatic 
odor. They are about 18 inches in length, pinnate, and composed in gen- 
eral of 6, 7 or 8 pair of leaflets surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets 
are opposite and fixed on short petioles ; they are acuminate, serrate, and 
somewhat downy. The barren flowers are disposed in pendulous and 
* [It is found in Massachusetts. Emerson.] 
