CHAP. XXIII. ASCULA‘CER. EZ SCULUS. 463 
a chestnut, is said by some to have been given to this tree ironically, the nuts, though they have 
ithe appearance of sweet chestnuts, being only fit for horses ; and by others, because, in Turkey, it 
is said the nuts are used for curing horses of pulmonary diseases. According to aha ot they are 
— — in England to horses that are broken-winded, and to other cattle that have coughs 
colds. 
Description. All the species (except one, which is a shrub) are deciduous 
trees, with deeply cut leaves, and showy flowers; and they are distinguished from 
the genus Pavia by the roughness of their fruit, and by the comparative rough- 
ness, also, of their leaves. To us it appears doubtful if the roughness of the 
fruit be a sufficient generic distinction, since it varies much in different indi- 
viduals, and since, in some of the sorts, which have apparently been originated 
between 4?’sculus and Pavia, the fruit is as smooth, or nearly as much so, as in 
the proper pavias. It is highly probable that the two genera consist, in fact, 
of only two, or at most three, distinct species: however, all the different sorts 
in cultivation are so truly ornamental, that they may very conveniently be 
Kept distinct, as races or botanical species. The common horsechestnut is 
invariably propagated by the nuts, which are sown when newly gathered, or 
in the following spring; and in either case they will come up the succeeding 
summer. All the other sorts, as being varieties of the species, are propagated 
by budding or grafting. 
¥ 1. 4. Hippoca’stanum L. The common Horsechestuut. 
Identification. _ Lin. Sp., 488.; Willd. Baum., p. 14.; Hayne Dend., p. 43.; Dec. Prod., 1. p 597. ; 
and Don’s Mill., 1. p. 652. 
Synonymes. Hippocastanum vulgare Tourn.; Marronier d’Inde, Fr.; gemeine Rosskastanie, Ger. 
Engravings. Woodv. Med. Bot., t. 128.; Plenck Icon., t. 293.; Willd. Abbild., t. 40.; and the plate 
of this species in our Second Volume. 
Spec. Char., §c. Leaflets 7, obovately cuneated, acute, and toothed. A tree, 
growing to the height of 50 ft. or 60 ft., in cultivation since 1629, and flow- 
ering in May. ; 
Varieties. 
+ HE. H.2 flore pléeno. The double-flowered Horsechestnut. — This va- 
riety is recorded in nurserymen’s catalogues, but is not common. 
¥ JE. H. 3 variegdta. The variegated-leaved Horsechestnut. — The leaves 
are blotched with yellow, or yellowish white, but they have a ragged 
and unhealthy appearance, and are by no means ornamental. 
Description. A tree of the largest size, with an erect trunk, and a pyra- 
midal head. The leaves are large, of a deep green colour, and singularly in- 
teresting and beautiful when they are first developed. When enfolded in the 
bud, they are covered with pubescence, which falls off as the leaves become 
expanded, sooner or later, according to the dryness or moistness of the 
season. The growth, both of the tree and of the leaves, is very rapid; both 
shoots and leaves being sometimes perfected in three weeks from the time 
of foliation ; in which time, says Miller, I have measured shoots 14 ft. long, 
with their leaves fully expanded. The flowers appear a short time after the 
leaves, and are white, variegated with red and yellow: they expand in May, 
and the fruit ripens about the end of September or the beginning of October. 
It is allowed to fall from the tree; but, if wanted for seed, must be soon after- 
wards gathered up, and either sown, or mixed with earth ; because, if exposed 
to the atmosphere, it will lose its germinating faculties in a month, ( Bau- 
drillart.) The buds are covered with a gummy substance, which protects their 
downy interior from the wet. Miss Kent observes that “we cannot have 
a better specimen of the early formation of plants in the bud, than in that of 
the horsechestnut.” A celebrated German naturalist detached from this tree, 
in the winter season, a flower bud not larger than a pea, and first took off the 
external covering, which he found consisted of seventeen scales. Having re- 
moved these scales, and the down which formed the internal covering of the 
bud, he discovered four branch leaves surrounding a spike of flowers, the latter 
of which were so distinctly visible, that, with the aid of a microscope, he not 
only counted 68 flowers, but could discern the pollen of the stamens, and 
perceive that some was opaque, and some transparent. This experiment 
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