224 T^^^ Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



^SCULUS OCTANDRA, Sweet Buckeye 



jEscuIus octandra, Marshall, Arbust. Am. 4 (1785); Sargent, Silva M America, ii. 59, tt 69, 70 



(1892), and Man. Trees N. America, 646 (1905). 

 jsculus lutea, Wangenheim, Schrift. Gesell. Nat. Fr. Berlin, viii. 133, t. 6 (1788). 

 /Esculus flava, Alton, Hort. Kew, i. 403 (1789). 

 /sculus neglecta, Lindley, Bot. Reg. xii. t. 1009 (1826). 

 Paviaflava, Moench, Method. 66 (1794); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 471 (1838). 



A tree attaining in America 90 feet in height and 9 feet in girth of stem. Bark of 

 trunk f inch thick, dark brown, slightly fissured, separating on the surface into thin 

 small scales. Leaves with long slender petioles. Leaflets five, occasionally seven, 

 elliptical or obovate-oblong, cuneate at the base, acuminate, finely serrate, pubes- 

 cent beneath ; petiolules short. Terminal leaflet with twenty or more pairs of 

 nerves. Flowers in pubescent panicles, 4 to 6 inches long ; calyx campanulate ; 

 petals four, yellow, coming into contact at the tips, very unequal, the upper pair 

 much longer than the lateral pair, claws villose within and much exceeding the 

 calyx, limb of lateral pair obovate or round with a subcordate base, limb of upper 

 pair spathulate, minute. Stamens usually seven, shorter than the petals, villose. 

 Ovary pubescent. Fruit 2 to 3 inches long, brown, smooth or slightly pitted. 



Identification 



In summer distinguished from ^sculus glabra by the leaflets being pubescent 

 beneath and devoid of cilia in the serrations ; from yEsculus Pavia, by the larger 

 leaves, which have petioles with smooth ridges on their upper surface. In winter the 

 twigs show the following characters : Branchlets glabrous, shining, with a few 

 scattered lenticels. Leaf-scars flat on the twigs (there being no cushion), obovate, 

 with usually three groups of bundle-dots ; opposite scars joined by a linear ridge. 

 Pith large, circular, green or white. Buds not viscid, terminal much larger than 

 the lateral, the latter arising at an angle of 45, long-oval, pointed at the apex ; 

 scales brown, the cilia on the exposed margins minute or absent, upper scales 

 rounded at the apex and on the back, lower pair pointed at the apex and keeled 

 on the back. 



Varieties 



1. Var. hybrida, Sargent (Van purpurascens, A. Gray ; yEsculus discolor^ 

 Pursh). This is a form occurring wild in the Alleghany mountains. The flowers 

 are purple or red in colour, and the under surfaces of the leaves, as well as the 

 petioles and panicles, are clothed with a dense pale pubescence. 



2. yEsculus versicolor, Dippel. This is a hybrid between ^sculus octandra 

 and yEsculus Pavia, and is intermediate in character, the flowers varying in 



Figured in Bot. Reg. iv. 310 (1818). 



