SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 
SAPINDACELE. 
52 
The genus Aisculus is represented in the floras of the three continents of the northern hemisphere. 
Thirteen species are distinguished, eight of which are American. The type of the genus, sculus 
Hippocastanum,: is indigenous in the mountains of Greece. One species* occurs in the forests of the 
western Himalayas at elevations of from four to ten thousand feet above the sea-level ; and another? in 
the tropical forests of the Sikkim Himalayas, of the Khasia hills, and of Assam and Burmah. _#sculus 
Chinensis* is widely distributed in northern China, and @sculus turbinata® im central China and in 
Japan. With the exception of dsculus Pavia’ and #sculus parviflora’ of the southern United 
States, Hsculus Parryi® of Lower California, and two little known species with trifoliate leaves, one® 
of which inhabits southern Mexico, and the other’? New Granada and Venezuela, all the Horse-chest- 
nuts are arborescent, some of them growing to a large size. 
Aésculus has few useful properties. The wood of all the species is soft, straight-grained, light- 
colored, and easily worked, and, although it decays rapidly when exposed to the action of the weather, is 
employed in the manufacture of many small articles, and, in the United States, in paper-making. The 
bark is bitter and astringent; that of sculus Hippocastanum has been used in tanning, as a substi- 
tute for cinchona in the treatment of fevers," and in homeopathic remedies.” The roots contain a 
mucilaginous saponiferous matter, and it is said that those of @sculus Pavia are used in Carolina as a 
substitute for soap.“ The roots and the bruised branches of this and of some of the other American 
species emit a disagreeable odor, and their narcotic properties have caused them to be used to in- 
toxicate fish.“ The large farinaceous seeds of Aisculus contain a bitter principle, Esculine, which 
deprives them of value as food for man,” although they are sometimes fed to sheep, goats, and swine. 
1 Linneus, Spec. 344.— De Candolle, Prodr. i. 597. 
Although the Horse-chestnut has been cultivated in the gardens 
of Europe for more than three centuries, its native country was 
Different authors have believed it to be a native of 
Sibthorp noticed 
it on the mountains of northern Greece (Nyman, Conspect. Fl. 
long unknown. 
the Caucasus, of northern India, and of Thibet. 
Europ. 136), but it is only in recent years that Orphanides has 
established the fact that it is indigenous in the forests which cover 
these mountains. (Grisebach, Vegetation der Erde, French ed. i. 
521, note.) 
2 #sculus Indica, Colebrooke, Wallich Cat. No. 1188. — Brandis, 
Forest Fl. Brit. Ind. 103, t. 19.— Hooker f. Fil. Brit. Ind. i. 675. 
Pavia Indica, Cambessedes ; Jacquemont Voyage, iv. 31, t. 35. 
The Horse-chestnut of northern India, a fine tree which grows to 
the height of sixty or seventy feet with a stout trunk three or four 
feet in diameter, is found in considerable numbers in moist shady 
valleys, which it enlivens in April and May with large panicles of 
showy flowers. It was introduced as early as 1850 into English 
gardens, where for many years it flowered freely. It is, however, 
still little known in cultivation. (Bot. Afag. t. 5117.) 
3 #sculus Punduana, Wallich, Cat. No. 1189. — Hooker f. I. ¢. 
42. Asamica, Griffith, Journals, i. 122. 
4 Bunge, Enum. Pl. Chin. Bor. 10.— Hance, Jour. Bot. 1870, 
312. — Forbes & Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 139. 
5 Blume, Rumphia, ii. 195. — Debeaux, Fl. Shangh. 22. — Gray, 
Mem. Am. Acad. u. ser. vi. 384. — Franchet & Savatier, Enum. Pl. 
Jap. i. 86. — Forbes & Hemsley, 1. c. 
E. Pavia, Thunberg, Fil. Jap. 154 (not Linneus). 
LL. dissimilis, Rumphia, ii. 195. — Miquel, Prol. Fl. Jap. 257. — 
Franchet & Savatier, J. c. 
Esculus turbinata is now occasionally cultivated in the gardens 
of the United States and Europe, where it makes a handsome round- 
headed hardy tree. (André, Itev. Hort. 1888, 496, f. 120-124.) 
6 Linneus, Spec. 344.— Watson, Dendr. Brit. ii. t. 120. — 
Guimpel, Otto & Hayne, Adbbild. Holz. 24, t. 21.— Lindley, Bot. 
Reg. t. 993. — Watson & Coulter, Gray’s Man. ed. 6, 116. 
Pavia rubra, Lamarck, JI. 11. 407, t. 273. 
7 Walter, Fl. Car. 128.— Chapman, Fl. 79. 
4E. macrostachya, Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 220.— Bot. Mag. t. 
2118. 
8 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xvii. 200. — Sargent, Garden and Forest, 
iii. 356, f. 47. 
9 #sculus Mexicana, Bentham & Hooker, Gen. i. 398. — Hems- 
ley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. i. 212. 
Billia Hippocastanum, Peyritsch, Bot. Zeit. xvi. 153. — Walpers, 
Ann. vii. 624. 
Putzeysia rosea, Planchon & Linden, Cat. 1857. 
10 sculus Columbiana, Bentham & Hooker, l. c. 
Billia Columbiana, Planchon & Linden, l. c. — Triana & Plan- 
chon, Ann. Sci. Nat. ser. 4, xviii. 367.— Walpers, Ann. l. c. 
11 Zannichelli, Lettera intorno alla Facolta dell’ Ippocastano. — 
Peipers, Diss. de cortice Hippoc.—Turra, Della febrifuga Facolta 
dell’ Ippocastano. — Woodville, Med. Bot. ii. 349, t. 128.— U. S. 
Dispens. ed. 14, 1565. — Stillé & Maisch, Nat. Dispens. ed. 2, 712. 
The oil of the Horse-chestnut has also been used as a lotion in 
eases of chronic gout and rheumatism, and a decoction of the leaves 
was once a popular remedy in the United States for whooping- 
cough. A seed of the Horse-chestnut carried on the person is still 
believed by many people in the United States to be a certain pre- 
ventive of rheumatism. 
12 Millspaugh, Am. Med. Pl. in Homeopathic Remedies, i. 43, t. 43. 
18 Gray, Gen. Til. ii. 207. 
14 Gray, l. c. 
16 The bitter properties contained in the cotyledons of Msculus 
can be removed by repeated washings in pure water, and, were it 
not for the cost of the operation, they could be made in this way 
valuable as food for man. (See Mémoire sur les Marrons d’Inde by 
A. Baume, published in Paris in 1797.) 
