i^sculus 219 



^SCULUS INDICA, Indian Horse-Chestnut 



Aisculus indica, Colebrooke, VVallich, List 1188 (1828); Bot. Mag. t. 5117 (1859); Hiern, in Flora 

 British India, i. 675 (1875); Bean, in Gard. Chron. 1897, xxii. 155 and 1903, xxxiii. 139, 

 Suppl. Illust.; Collett, Flora Simla, 97 (1902); Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 193 (1902); 

 Brandis, Indian Trees, 185, 705 (1906). 



Pavia indica, Wallich, ex Jacquemont, Voyage dans I'Inde, iv. 31, t. 35 (1844). 



A large tree, attaining in India 150 feet in height and 40 feet in girth of stem. 

 Bark in old trees peeling off in long strips. Leaves large, glabrous, dark green 

 above, pale, almost glaucous beneath ; leaflets five to nine, stalked, obovate- 

 lanceolate, acuminate, finely and sharply serrate, with about twenty pairs of nerves 

 in the terminal leaflet. Panicles 12 to 15 inches long, loose, narrow, erect. 

 Flowers large, about i inch long ; calyx \ inch long, irregularly lobed, often 

 splitting so as to appear two-lipped. Petals four, white, of two unequal pairs ; 

 the upper pair narrow and long with a red and yellow blotch at the base, the 

 lower pair flushed with pink. Stamens seven or eight, scarcely longer than the 

 petals, spreading. Fruit brown, rough, without spines, irregularly ovoid, one to 

 two inches long, containing one to three dark brown shining seeds. 



Identification 



In summer the viscid buds and the large stalked leaflets with finely serrate 

 margins distinguish it from the other species in cultivation In winter the twigs 

 show the following characters : Branchlets coarse, shortly pubescent ; lenticels 

 like brown raised warts, numerous; pith circular, white; leaf- scars on slightly 

 prominent cushions, each pair wide apart and joined by a raised linear ridge, obovate 

 or semicircular with a raised rim and three groups of bundle-dots. Buds viscid, 

 greenish, the lower scales only being brown ; terminal buds ovoid, pointed, the 

 two lowest scales having projecting beaks ; scales not ciliate, the outermost four 

 pubescent ; lateral buds small, arising at an acute angle. 



Distribution 



It is a common tree in the north-west Himalayas from the Indus to Nepal, 

 occurring at elevations of from 4000 to 10,000 feet, and also occurs in Afghanistan. 

 Sir George Watt informs me that he has measured many trees 150 feet in height 

 with trunks of enormous size, a girth of 40 feet not being uncommon. The wood is 

 used in building and for making water-troughs, platters, vases, cups, packing-cases, 

 and tea-boxes. The twigs and leaves are lopped for use as fodder. The fruit is 

 given as food to cattle and goats ; ground and mixed with ordinary flour, it is part 

 of the dietary of the hill tribes. The bark of old trees is very remarkable in 

 appearance, exfoliating in long flakes, which remain attached at their upper ends and 

 hang downwards and outwards. (A. H.) 



