N. O. PLATANACE/K 
1209 
A large, deciduous, aromatic tree, very nearly glabrous ; young 
shoots tonientose. Bark grey, characteristically marked by deep, 
vertical, parallel fissures, §in. to 2in thick Wood moderately 
brown, with darker streaks, often beautifully mottled. (Gamble.) 
Leaves imparipinnate, 6-12in., alternate. Leaflets 5-13 or 7-9, 
odd one the larger, stalked, side ones opposite, sessile ovate- 
oblong, 3-8in., pointed, entire. Flowers green, male and female 
on the same tree, appearing with the leaves. Male flowers 
numerous, in pendulous, lateral catkins, 2-5in., long, on the 
previous year’s wood above the leaf scars, often two superposed. 
Perianth narrow, nearly flat, irregularly 5-lobed, combined with 
the branch, the free tip of which appears on the underside. 
Stamens 15-20, nearly sessile. Female flowers 1-3, clustered, 
sessile, on the ends of branches ; the bracts combined in a 
pubescent, ovoid involucre aduate to the ovary, its narrow mouth 
obscurely 4-toothed ; perianth of 4 linear lanceolate lobes 
inserted on the mouth of the involucre, alternate with its teeth. 
Ovary 1-celled ; ovule 1. Style arms 2, short, broad, recurved, 
roughly wrinkled. Drupe ovoid, 2in. long, the green, thick, 
fleshy rind enclosing a woody wrinkled 2-valved nut; the edible 
part consisting of the large, corrugated, 4-lobed cotyledons of 
the single seed. (Collett.) 
Uses : — The bark is used as an anthelmintic and detergent ; 
the leaves are astringent and tonic, in decoction are supposed 
to be specific in strumous sores, and to be anthelmintic ; the 
fruit is also believed to have an alterative elfect in rheumatism. 
The kernels afford by expression about 50 per cent, of a clear sweet oil, 
largely used in the hills for culinary purposes and illumination. Stewart 
states that a large proportion of the oil is prepared by simply bruising the 
kernel between stones. The oil-cake is a good cattle-food. Walnut oil has 
a yellow or orange-yellow colour with a slight odour of linseed and a nutty 
flavour. Practical experiments show it to bo a strong drying oil. Crossley 
and Le Sueur (1898) testing a sample expressed in India found it to have 
constants agreeing well with those previously recorded : Speciflc gravity at 
15-5°, 0‘9239 ; acid value, 10 07 ; saponification value, 192'5 ; iodine value, 1431 ; 
Reichert Meissl value, 0’00 ; insoluble fatty acids, 95’44 per cent. (Agricul- 
tural Ledger 1911-T2, No. 5. p. 166). 
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