In this country we have several native species bearing very large edible seeds, and they are known in the West under the general name of _Piñon_, or nut pines. The best of these nuts, to my taste, are the seeds of _Pinus edulis_, so named by the late Dr. Engelmann, because of its large, sweet and edible seeds. It is a small, low-growing tree, more or less common on dry hills and slopes, from Colorado southward through New Mexico, and into western Texas. The seeds of _Pinus Parryana_ and _Pinus cembroides_, of Arizona and Lower California, are also called Piñons, and largely gathered by the Indians. Farther east and north, we find the one-leaved pine (_Pinus monophylla_), and although the seeds are much smaller than those of _P. edulis_, they were formerly gathered in immense quantities by the Indians, to help eke out their often scanty winter store of food. Occasionally a small quantity of these pine nuts is sent to Eastern markets, but rarely, unless ordered early in the season. The trees of _P. edulis_ and _P. monophylla_ are perfectly hardy here, and worth cultivating for ornament, as well as their nuts, although their slow growth is a rather severe test of one's patience. Fig. 104 shows a Piñon branch. PISTACHIO NUT.--Historically, this is a very ancient nut, for Bible commentators claim that it is the one sent by Jacob into Egypt. It is the fruit of a small, deciduous tree of the cashew family (_Anacardiaceæ_), a native of western Asia, but many centuries ago it had become naturalized in Palestine and throughout the Mediterranean regions. It has shining evergreen winged leaves, and the bark on the young twigs is brown, becoming russet-colored with age. There are several different species, but the one producing the nuts of commerce is the _Pistacia vera_, having brownish-green flowers in loose panicles, and these are succeeded by bunches of reddish fruit, about an inch long, with an oblique or bent point. The nuts have a double shell, the outer one usually red, the inner one smooth and brittle; the kernel is pale green, sweet, and of rather pleasant taste. There are a number of varieties, differing only slightly in form and size. This nut has been cultivated sparingly in Great Britain since 1570, but the climate is not quite warm enough to insure its ripening in the open air. It would probably succeed throughout the greater part of California, as well as in the extreme Southern States, but Mr. Berckmans writes me that it is not hardy in his grounds at Augusta, Ga. There is a species of pistacia known as _P. Mexicana_, found in central Mexico, and extending as far north as San Diego, in California, according to the report of Dr. Cooper (Botany of California, Vol. I, p. 109).