446 SAPINDACE^. ^sculus. 



style ; seeds smooth and shining, 5 lines in diameter, dark brown or black, but light-colored 

 at the relatively large hilum. — Torr. &, Gray, Fl. i. 253, 684 ; Gray, PI. Liudh. pt. 2, 167, 

 PI. Wright, i. 38, & ii. 30; Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 48 ; Fl. Se'rres, x. 217, t. 1059; Schuiz- 

 lein, Ic. t. 230 **, f. 2, 8; Koch, Dendr. i. 515; Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 337 ; Sargent, 

 U. S. 10th Census, ix. 44, & Silv. ii. 65, t. 73. U. heterojihijlla, & U. heplaphijUa, Scheele, 

 Linniea, xxi. 589, xxii. 352. — Rocky hills, Texas, where first collected by Drummond, to 

 Organ Mts., New Mexico, Wright; fl. ace. to locality, March to May; fr. two months later. 

 (Mex. southward at least to Nuevo Leon, Palmer.) 



11. j^SCULUS, L, Horse-chestnut, Buckeye. (Classical Latin name 

 of an oak, presumably from escare, to eat, in allusion to edible acorns.) — Shrubs 

 or trees of moderate size with opposite digitately or pedately divided exstipulate 

 leaves. Long petioles enlarged at the base and, on falling, leaving large some- 

 what triangular scars upon the thick terete branchlets ; the latter terminated in 

 winter by large scaly leaf-buds. Leaflets large, narrowed at both ends and usu- 

 ally acuminate, serrate or very rarely entire. — Syst. Nat. ed. 2, 22 (as Esculm)\ 

 Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 205, t. 176, 177; Benth. «fe Hook. Gen. i. 398; Baill. Hist. 

 PI. V. 424; Sargent, Silv. ii. 51, t. 67-72 ; Pax in Engl. & Prantl, Nat. Pilan- 

 zenf. iii. Ab. 5, 275. Hippocastanum., Adans. Fam. ii. 383. Pavia, Poir. Diet. 

 V. 93. Macrothyrsus & Calothyrsus, Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 2, ii. 61, 62. — A 

 group of 13 or 14 species of northern temperate and E. Ind. tropical regions. 

 The related genus Bellia of Mex. & S. Am. with calyx divided nearly to the 

 base and leaves 3-foliolate may be regarded as distinct, ^sculus may be con- 

 veniently and naturally subdivided into sections as by Prof. Pax, 1. c. 



§ 1. Eu^scuLDS, Pax, 1. c. Petals 4 (or 5), usually subequal in length; 

 the upper pair with narrow spatulate blades, the lateral with rather broad blades, 

 all exceeded by the stamens : calyx short, campanulate, essentially regular, 

 5-lobed : fruit (at least in its early state) muricate with weak or firmer spines. 



M. HippocAsTANUM, L., the Horse-chestnut, a rapid growing ornamental shade tree of 

 Greek origin, cult, since the 16th century, and deservedly popular for its attractive foliage 

 and numerous showy thyrsoid panicles of white and pale yellow, or roseate-purple flowers pro- 

 duced in spring, is mucli planted (in several varieties) in cities. It may sometimes be self- 

 sown, but shows little or no tendency toward naturalization. 



^. glabra, Willd. (Ohio or Fetid Buckeye.) A tree of small size, rarely 60 or 70 

 feet high : branchlets and petioles green, yellowish, or brownish, finely tomentulose when 

 young : leaflets mostly 5, but not rarely more numerous, lance-oblong, oblanceolate, or less 

 frequently obovate, sharply acuminate, finely and sharply serrate, scarcely pedate or quite 

 sessile, pubescent upon and tufted in the axils of the veins and green upon both surfaces, 

 scarcely paler beneath : thyrse ovate-oblong ; the spreading branches each bearing upon 

 the upper side a succession of about 6 short-pedicelled greenish yellow or straw-colored 

 flowers: calyx (2 to) 3 or 4 lines long, pubescent: corolla little over half inch in length, 

 pubescent ; the blades even of the upper petals equalling or considerably exceeding the 

 claws : fruit globose, spiny when young, and echinulate-roughened even in age. — Enum. 

 405 ; Pursh, Fl. i. 255 ; Guimp. Otto & Hayne, Abbild. Holzart. t. 24 ; Gray, Gen. 111. ii. 

 207, t. 176, 177; Sargent, Silv. ii. 55, t. 67, 68; Gray, PI. For. Trees N. A. t. 27. ^.pallida, 

 Willd. 1. c. 406. ^. echinata, Muhl. Cat. 38. ^. Ohioensis, Michx. f. Hist. Arb. Am. iii. 

 242; DC. Prodr. i. 597; Lindl. Bot. Reg. xxiv. t. 51 {Olnoiensis). yE. muricata, ochroleuca, 

 verrucosa, & alba, Raf. Alsogr. 68, 69. Pavia Ghioensis, Michx. f. Sylv. ii. Ill, t. 92. P. pal- 

 lida, & P. glabra, Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 2, ii. 54. yE. (or Pavia) carnea, rubicunda, & 

 Watsoniana, Hort., forms with prickly fruit but roseate or variegated flowers, are of uncertain 

 (perhaps hybrid) origin, and not known out of cultivation. — Rich woods, along alluvial river 



