^sculus pavia, 

 THE SMALL BUCKEYE. 



Synonymes. 



^sculus pavia, 



Pavia rubra, 



Marronier pavie, Pavie a fleurs rouges, 

 Rothe Rosskastanie, 

 Pavia, Marrone di Paw, 

 Red-flowered Pavia, Small Buckeye, 



LiNN^us, Species Plantarum. 



Elliott, Flora of South Carolina. 



ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 



De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Don, Miller's Dictionary. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Engravings. Audubon, Birds of America, pi. Ixxxviii. ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 51 ; and the figures belovr. 



Specific Characters. Fruit smooth. Corolla 4 petals, that are longer than the stamens. Leaflets 5, ellip- 

 tic-oblong, tapered at both ends, and smooth, as is the petiole ; axils of the nerves hairy on the under 

 surface of the leaf. De Catidolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



. il^^^HE Small Buckeye is 

 H '^P i^ a slender-growing tree 

 |)) LI (^ or shrub, varying in 

 ^^^^ height from two to 

 twenty feet, in its natural habitat, and some- 

 times thirty feet when in a state of cultivation. 



The leaves are oblong-lanceolate, cuneate-ob- "^^^^Z^^^/^ 

 long, or oval, slightly acuminate, unequally "^ 



serrulate, minutely pubescent, or nearly gla- 

 brous, except along the veins beneath. The 

 racemes are lax, and generally with ternate 

 flowers ; the corollas are tetrapetalous, with 

 their connivent claws of the length of the 

 calyx ; the stamens are seven, and shorter 

 than the corolla. The flowers appear in Geor- 

 gia and Carolina in March, and a month or six 

 weeks later near Philadelphia and New York ; 

 and according to Mr. Audubon, they are scent- 

 less, but much sought after by humming-birds. 

 The fruit resembles that of the common horse-chesnut, but is much smaller. 



Varieties. The variations which are recognized under this form may be de- 

 scribed as follows : 



1. M. p. ARGUTA (P. r. arg-uta, of Loudon.) Sharp-toothed Small Buckeye. 

 This variety was introduced into the garden of the London Horticultural Society 

 from the nursery of M. Castros, of Bordeaux, under the name of jEsculus pavia 

 parviftora. It is said to be a handsome small tree, with dark, brownish-red flow- 

 ers, differing but little from the ^sculus pavia. The tree in the Society's gar- 

 den attained the height of fifteen feet in ten years. 



2. M. p. suBLAciNiATA (P. r. mblaciriiata, of Loudon.) Slightly -cut leaved 

 Small Buckeye. The leaflets of this variety are acutely serrated ; in other re- 

 spects it differs but little from the species. 



