62 VITACE^. 



Order XXVI. HIPPOCASTANACEiE.— Horse Chestnuts. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 4 or 5, unequal. Stamens 

 1 — 8 distinct, unequal, inserted upon a hypogynous disk. 

 Ovary 3-celled; style filiform, acute. Fruit coriaceous, 1—2 

 or 3-valved, 1 — 2 or 3-celled. Seeds 1 — 3, large, roundish, 

 with a smooth shining coat, and a broad hilum ; albumen none ; 

 embryo curved, germinating under ground. — Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves opposite, compound. Flowers in racemes or panicles. 



tESCULUS. Linn.— Horse Chestnut. 

 (A Latin name said to have been originally applied to an oak.) 

 Calyx campanulate, 5 -toothed. Petals 4 — 5, more or less 

 unequal. Filaments recurved backward. * 



1. jE. glabra Willd.: leafets 5, ovate, acuminate, very smooth; corolla 

 4-petalled, spreading, with the claws as long as the calyx ; stamens longer 

 than the corolla ; fruit echinate. J5J. ecMnata Muhl. Pavia Ohiensis 

 Mich.f. 



Banks of streams. Penn. to Virg. W. to Miss. May. — A large shrub or small 

 tree. Flowers yellowish- white, in terminal racemose panicle^ Buck-eye. 



2. JEJ. Hippocastanum Linn. : leafets 7, obovate-cuneate, acute, dentate ; 

 flowers with 5 petals and 7 stamens ; fruit echinate. 



About houses. May. — A tree with a smooth bark, very brandling towards 

 the top. Flowers large, white, spotted with purple and yellow. A native of 

 India. Common Horse Chestnut. 



Order XXYII. VITACE^.— Vines. 



Calyx small, nearly entire. Petals 4 or 5, sometimes co- 

 hering above and calyptriform, with a valvate aestivation. 

 Stamens as many as the petals, inserted upon the disk, some- 

 times sterile by abortion. Ovary 2-celled ; style 1, very short ; 

 stio-ma simple. Fruit a globose pulpy berry, 2- (or by abortion 

 1-) celled. Seeds 1 — 5, bony, with hard albumen. — Climbing 

 shrubs, with simple or compound leaves, and small green 

 flowers. 



1. AMPELOPSIS. MicA.— Ampelopsis. 



(From the Greek anneXos vine, and oxpn, aspect; on account of its resemblance 

 to the vine.) 



Calyx nearly entire. Petals 5. Style 1, very short. Stig- 

 ma capitate. Ovary not immersed in the disk, 2 — 4-seeded. 

 1 . A. cordata Mich. : stem climbing, with slender branches ; leaves cor- 



