^sciilus macrostachya, 

 THE EDIBLE BUCKEYE. 



Synonymes. 



J^culus macrostachya, 

 Pavia macrostachya, 



Pavia edulis, 



Pavicr a lon^s epis, Pavier nain, 



Laiigahriije Rosskastanie, 



Pavia bianca, 



Edible Buckeye, Long-racemed Pavia, 



MicHAUX, Flora Boreali-Amcncana. 



ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North America. 



De Candolle, Prodroimis. 



Don, Miller's Dictionary. 



Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 



PoiTEAD ET TuRPiN, Traite des Arbres fruitiers de Du 



Hamel. 

 France. 

 Germany. 

 Italy. 

 Britain and Anglo- America. 



Drrirationt. The specific name, macrostachya, is derived from the Greek macros, lara;e, and alachus, a spike or raceme, 

 in allusion to the long racemes of Howers. The French name, Pavier iiain, signifies Dwarf Pavia, from the small size of ihe 

 plain. The other French name signifies Long-spiked Pavia, and the German name has the same signification. 



Engravings. Poiieau el Turpin, Trail* des Arbres fruitiera de Du Hamel, pi. 88; Loudon, Artioretiun Briuimicum, i., 

 figure 137 ; and the figures below. 



Specific Characters. Stamens much longer than the corolla j racemes very long. Root stoloniferous. 



Flowers white. De Candolle, Prodromus. 



Description. 



PS^^^HE Edible Buckeye, in its 

 Si hlP i^ natural habitat, is a low ever- 



in 



but 

 agement, 



|}j LI ^ green shrub, seldom exceeding 



E^^^^ a height of three or four feet ; 

 a slate of cultivation, witli proper man- 

 it partakes the character of a large 

 shrub or small tree. The shoots are slender, 

 spreading, and rooting at the joints where they 

 happen to rest on the soil, with ascendant extrem- 

 ities. The leaflets are from five to seven, oval- 

 obovate, acuminate, serrate, and velvety-canescent 

 beneath. They are supported on long slender petioles, which, from their graceful 

 disposition, combined with the feathery lightness of the racemes of flowers, give 

 the whole plant an air of elegance, unlike that of any of the dwarf races of this 

 genus. The flowers, which put forth in its native country in April and May, 

 appear in England, and in the middle and northern parts of the United States, a 

 month or six weeks later than those of the common horse-chesnut. In large 

 plants, however, situated in a moist soil, it continues in bloom for three months 

 or longer, forming one of the greatest floral ornaments of the shrubbery, at a 

 season too, when very few trees or shrubs are in flower. 



Geography and History. The .^sculus macrostachya is a native of the west- 

 ern parts of South Carolina and Georgia, usually growing on the banks of rivu- 

 lets or streams. It was introduced into Britain in 1786, by Mr. John Fraser. 

 and has since been cultivated in most of the gardens on the continent. 



The largest recorded plant of this species in England, and perhaps on the 

 globe, is in Berkshire, at White Knight's, near Reading, which had attained a 

 height of fifteen feet in twenty-five years after planting. Several other plants, 



