350 



TI 



i 



V 



of 



S tree fi-equentlv grows to a great heip-ht 



:1 from the upper 



nk ufually fends ofi numerous fpreading branches 



pofed 

 obverfely oval, 



d with rough brown bark : the leaves are d 

 only of fev 



lar 



lob 



ch 



g 



ferrated, ribbed, of a pale green colour, and proceed from a common 

 centre attached to a long footftalk : the flowers terminate the b 



in large conical fp 



and make a beautiful 



is tubular, 

 the corolla 



app 



d divided at the brim into five lli 



fills of 



ive 



dulated at the edges, inferted 

 e white colour, irn 



petals, which are 



^arance : the caly.> 



:t blunt fegments 



undifh, fpreading 



alyx by narrow claws, and of i 



gularly fpotted with red and yellow : the filament^ 



feven, tapering, about the length of the corolla, bending at the tor 



e 



and fupplied with pointed anth 



germen is round, fupporting 



Ihort ilyle, furniihed with a pointed ftigma : the capfule is round 



fc> 



h, fleflay, befet with fpines, divided into three 



,. _ b ^ T*n rr- -I r- -I -r • 



d 



con 



g 



ndifli comprefTed feeds. It is a native of the northera 

 parts of Afia, and flowers in April and May. 



J ^ 



^Though the Caftanea was well known to the ancients, yet Mat 

 thiolus feems to be the firll author who defcribes the Horfe Chefnut - 



which was broug 

 century. 



and 



Europe 



lo fcarce in the time of Clufiu 



the middle of the fixteenth 



that 



ihen but one tree known at "V 

 fruit 



was 



(\ 



J 



nuts were obtained from Conftantinopl 



which being too young to bear 



in 



588 



after 



which this tree was very generally propagated. It was cultivated _._ 

 England by Mr. John Tradefcant in 1633, and is now very common 

 this country. The wood is white, foft, foon decaVs, and is there 



fore of 



Th 



fruit in appearance refembles that of the 

 ^anifh Chefnut, and is eaten by iheep, goats, deer, oxen, and horfes.' 



\. 



,i 



A Horfe Chefnut-tree, above 80 years old, and 50 feet hig-h, ftill continued 



It 



'healthy and growing ftate 



Berner landwlrthjch aftl , Gefellfch. vol ii. p, 943 



The ripe capfule feldom contains more than one, but on .being examined 



flate, two are conftantly 



L 



See his Epijf. medicinal op. omn. p. loi. 125. Afterwards in Comm. In Diofcorid. 



^ Mu 



App. Med. vol. IV. p. 63 



Horfes are faid to eat this fruit g 

 pulmonary diforders, and hence the 



e, and particularly fheep, it has 



, and by it to have been cured of coughs 

 Horfe Chefnut, For thepurpofe of fattening 

 thought necellary to macerate the nuts in 



cauftic 



