GINKGO NUT.--The large, round, white, somewhat flattened, nut-like seeds of the now common maidenhair tree, or _Ginkgo biloba_, also known as _Salisburia adiantifolia_ of some nurserymen's catalogues and many recent botanical works. The former, however, is the older and correct scientific name. This tree is a native of China and Japan, and of a slender, sparsely branched habit, growing from fifty to eighty feet high in its native countries. It is a deciduous, cone-bearing (_Coniferæ_) tree, with two-lobed, fan-shaped leaves two to three inches broad, divided about halfway down from the top. The male and female flowers are on separate trees, and to secure seed or nuts both sexes must be grown near together. The ginkgo was introduced into European gardens in 1754, and there are now many fruiting specimens, especially in France, from whence the nuts have long been secured for planting, by nurserymen and others interested in tree culture. There are very few bearing trees in this country, and one in Washington, D. C., has been fruiting for a number of years. In China and Japan the seeds or nuts are valued for their edible qualities, but they have a kind of disagreeable, balsamic taste in their raw state, although this is dispelled by roasting, after which they are quite sweet and palatable. As the trees do not begin to bear until of considerable age, and the nuts are inferior to many other kinds, I do not think the ginkgo will ever become very popular in this country as a nut tree. GOORA NUT.--See Cola nut. GORGON NUT.--See Fox nut. GROUNDNUT.--The small, globular tubers of the dwarf three-leaved ginseng, _Aralia trifolia_, are called groundnuts in some of our Northern States, and they are frequently sought for, dug up and eaten by children, as I know from personal experience. The plant belongs to the ginseng family (_Araliaceæ_), and is closely related to the true five-leaved ginseng (_Aralia quinquefolia_), but our groundnut has only three leaves, instead of five; besides, it is a somewhat smaller plant, rarely more than six to eight inches high. When the scattered seed sprout in spring, they send down a long, slender, thread-like rootstock, to a depth of from four to six inches, and at the bottom of this the small tuber is produced. It has a somewhat pungent taste, but this only whets the appetite of a boy when on a hunt for ground nuts.