WALICUT, Juotang, a genus of beautiful trees of the natural order juglamdacete. This order is nearly allied to amentacee (q.v.), and particularly to the sub-order cupuliferts (q.v.) or eopylacece, but differs in having the ovary one-celled, with a solitary erect ovule. The flowers are unisexual, the male flowers in catkins, the female in terminal clusters. The species, of which not quite thirty are known, are mostly natives of North America; a few are found in Asia. All are trees with alternate 'mounted leaves. The genus juglans is distinguished by moneecious flowers, with 18 to 24 stamens; and a drupe with a deciduous fleshy husk, which bursts irregularly, and a deeply wrinkled shell (pitmen) of two valves, within which is the seed, curiously lobed and winkled, with a membrannceous testa and partial dissepiments. The species of hickory (q.v.) were formerly included in this genus.—The COMMON WALNUT (J. regia) is a native of Persia and the Himalaya, but has long been cultivated in all parts of the s. of Europe. The date of its intro duction is unknown, but it was certainly cultivated by the Romans in the reign of Tiberius. It is a lofty tree of 60 to 90 ft., with large spreading branches. Its foliage resembles that of the ash. The leaves have 2 to 4 pair of leaflets and a terminal one. They have a fine balsamic odor when bruised ; this quality, however, being much more marked in some trees than in others. An infusion of them has been found useful in scrofula, and when bruised and rubbed on the skin they are efficacious in curing itch. Placed in wardrobes, they prevent the ravages of moths. The sap is limpid like water, but con tains much sugar, so that the tree is sometimes tapped for it like the sugar-maple, and the sugar is procured by evaporation. A pleasant kind of wine is also made from it. An excellent pickle and a kind of ketchup are made of the unripe fruit. The ripe fruit is one of the best of nuts, and is an important article of export from many parts of the s. of Europe. Walnuts are also exported in large quantities from Cashmere and other Himalayan regions to supply the markets of India. The outer husk is before the nuts are brought to market. In the s. of Europe walnuts are a very consider • able article of food, and when perfectly fresh they are wholesome and nutritious, although in the state in which they are imported into Britain they are not easily digestible. Just before they are ripe they are much used in France with vinegar, salt, pepper, and shallots. Among the varieties of walnut in cultivation is one with a very thin shell, which is much esteemed. Walnuts yield by expression a bland fixed oil, which under the names of walnut oil and nut oil, is much used by painters, and in the countries in which it is produced is a common article of food. The mice left after the expression of
the oil is sometimes used as an article of food, and is also used for feeding cattle and poultry, The timber of the walnut is of great value, and is much used by cabinet makers, Gun-stocks are made of it. It is light, although hard and fine-grained. The wood of young trees is white and little esteemed ; that of old trees is brown, veined and shaded with darker brown and black. The wood of the roots isteantifully veined Both the root and the husks of the walnut yield a dye, which is used for staining light colored woods brown. The walnut, when meant to become a timber-tree, is best sown where it is to remain, as the roots are much injured by transplanting. The best kinds of walnut for fruit are generally grafted. The walnut succeeds well in Britain as an orna mental tree, even in the n. of Scotland, although it seldom quite ripens its fruit except in the warmest parts of England. It was probably brought to England by the Romans. It takes its name from being foreign (A.-S. weallt or walk).—Very similar to the com mon walnut is the BLACK WALNUT (J. nigra) of North America, found iu most parts of the United States except the most northern. It is avery large and beautiful tree, the trunk -sometimes 6 or 7 ft. in diameter. The leaves have more numerous leaflets than those of the common walnut. The timber is even more valuable than that of the common wal nut, and is used for the same purposes. The fruit, however, is very inferior, although it is said in the markets of American cities. The partial dissepiments of the kernel are Thick and woody.—The BUTTER NUT V. cincera) is abundant iu the northern and north western states of North America, and in Canada. It is a tree only about 50 ft. high, with trunk about a foot in diameter; leaves with 15 to 17 leaflets; the fruit elongated, and 'externally covered with a viscid substance. The nut is hard and rough, with prominent ridges, of good quality, and sometimes brought to market in America. The wood is not apt to split or warp, and is useful for many purposes. Sugar is obtained from the sap. as from dud of the maple, but 'is of inferior quality. The inner bark is a mild cathartic resembling rhubarb in its properties. The leaves reduced to powder are used for blistering, like cantharides.—To the natural order juglandame belongs the genus engel hardtia, found in the Malayan archipelago and the Himalaya. The wood of B. Roxburgh dana, a Himalayan species, is much valued by turners.