762 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



Horse-chestnut blossoms. 

 Photo by Verne Morton. 



flame, and the flowers are arranged spirally around the central stem, each 

 pedicel carrying from four to six flowers. The calyx has five unequal lobes, 

 and it and the stem are downy. Five spreading and unequal petals 

 with ruffled margins are raised on short claws, to form the corolla; seven 

 stamens with orange colored anthers are thrust far out and up from the 

 flower. The blossoms are creamy or pinkish white and have purple or 

 yellow blotches in their throats. Not all the flowers have perfect pistils. 

 The stigmas ripen before the pollen, and are often thrust forth from the 

 unopened flower. The flowers are fragrant and are eagerly visited by 

 bumblebees, honey-bees and wasps. 



Very soon after the blossom falls, there may be seen one or two green,, 

 prickly balls which are all the fruits one flower cluster could afford to 

 mature. By October the green, spherical husk breaks open in three parts, 

 showing its white satin lining and the roundish, shining, smooth nut at its 

 center. At first there were six little nuts in this husk, but all except one 

 gave up to the burly occupant. The great, round, pale scar on the nut is 

 where it joined the husk. Very few American animals will eat the nut ; the 

 squirrels scorn it and horses surely disown it. 



In winter, the horse-chestnut twig has at its tip a large bud and looks 

 like a knobbed antenna thrust forth to test the safety of the neighborhood. 

 There are, besides the great varnished buds at the ends of the twigs, smaller 

 buds opposite to each other along the sides of the twig, standing out stiffly. 

 On each side of the end bud, and below each of the others, is a horseshoe- 

 shaped scar left by the falling leaf of last year. The "nails" in this horse- 

 shoe are formed by the leafy fibres which joined the petiole to the twig. 



