648 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



slightly pitted valves; seeds light yellow-brown, sometimes 1^' in diameter, with a 

 comparatively small liilum and a thin shell. 



A tree, occasionally 25-30 high, with a straight trunk 5'-G' in diameter, stout 

 branches forming a narrow symmetrical head, and slender brancidets marked by 

 numerous small pale lenticels, green and puberulous at first, becoming gray slightly 

 tinged with red during their first winter and only slightly darker in their second 

 year; or often a shrub. Winter-buds broadly ovate, obtusely pointed, about \' 

 long, with ovate rounded apiculate light red-brown outer scales. Bark thin, smooth, 

 and pale. 



Distribution. Rich upland woods; neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, and 

 southern Missouri to eastern Texas and northwestern Alabama^ 



4. ^sculus Californica, Nutt. Buckeye. 



Leaves with slender grooved petioles 3'-4:' long, and 4-7 usually 5 oblong-lanceo- 

 late acute leaflets narrowed and obtuse or somewhat rounded at the base, sharply 

 serrate, 4'-6' long, l^'-2' wide, dark green above, paler below, slightly pubescent at 



first, becoming glabrous or nearly so, their petiolules ^'-1' long, falling early, ofte 

 by midsummer. Flowers white or pale rose color, I'-l^' long, appearing from May 

 to July when the leaves are fully grown, on short pedicels mostly unilateral on the 

 long branches of the densely flowered long-stemmed pubescent cluster 3'-6' in length; 

 calyx 2-lobed, slightly toothed, much shorter than the narrow oblong petals; stamens 

 5-7, with long erect exserted slender filaments and bright orange-colored anthers; 

 ovary densely pubescent. Fruit obovate, often somewhat gibbous on the outer side, 

 with thin smooth pale brown valves, usually 1-seeded, 2'-3' long, on a slender stalk ^' |' 

 in length; seeds l^'-2' broad. 



A tree, rarely 30-40 high, with a short trunk 2-3 in diameter, often much 

 enlarged at the base, stout wide-spreading branches, and branchlets glabrous and pale 

 reddish brown when they first appear, becoming darker in their second season; more 

 often a shrub, with spreading stems 10-15 high forming broad dense thickets. 

 Winter-buds acute, covered with narrow dark brown scales rounded on the back 

 and thickly coated with resin. Bark of the trunk about l' thick, smooth, and light 

 gray or nearly white. Wood soft, light, very close-grained, v/hite or faintly tinged 

 with yellow, with thin hardly distinguishable sapwood of 10-12 layers of annual 

 growth. 



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