62 VITACEvE. 



ORDER XXVI. HIPPOCASTANACE^E. HORSE CHESTNUTS. 



Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 4 or 5, unequal. Stamens 

 7 8 distinct, unequal, inserted upon a hypogynous disk. 

 Ovary 3-celled ; style filiform, acute. Fruit coriaceous, 1 2 

 or 3-valved, 1 2 or 3-celled. Seeds 1 3, large, roundish, 

 with a smooth shining coat, and a broad hilum ; albumen none ; s 

 embryo curved, germinating under ground. Trees or shrubs. 

 Leaves opposite, compound. Flowers in racemes or panicles. 



JESCULUS. Linn. Horse Chestnut. 

 (A Latin name said to have been originally applied to an oak.) 

 Calyx campanulate, 5-toothed. Petals 4 5, more or less 

 unequal. Filaments recurved backward. 



1. M. glabra Willd.: leafets 5, ovate, acuminate, very smooth ; corolla 

 4-petalled, spreading, with the claws as long as the calyx ; stamens longer 

 than the corolla ; fruit echinate. JE. echinata, MuM. Pavia Ohiemis 

 Mich.f. 



Banks of streams. Penn. to Virg. W. to Miss. May. A large shrub or small 

 tree. Flowers yellowish-white, in terminal racemose panicles. Buck-eye. 



2. M. Hippocastanum Linn. : leafets 7, obovate-cuneate, acute, dentate ; 

 flowers with 5 petals and 7 stamens ; fruit echinate. 



About houses. May. A tree with a smooth bark, very branching towards 

 the top. Flowers large, white, spotted with purple and yellow. A native of 

 India. Common Horse Chestnut. 



ORDER XXVII. VITACEJS. VINES. 



Calyx small, nearly entire. Petals 4 or 5, sometimes co- 

 hering above' and calyptriform, with a valvate aestivation. 

 Stamens as many as the petals, inserted upon the disk, some- 

 times sterile by abortion. Ovary 2 -celled ; style 1, very short ; 

 stigma simple. Fruit a globose pulpy berry, 2- (or by abortion 

 1-) celled/ Seeds 1 5, bony, with hard albumen. Climbing 

 shrubs, with simple or compound leaves, and small green 

 flowers. 



1. AMPELOPSIS. Mich. Ampelopsis. 



(From the Greek a/in-tXoj vine, and o^ij, aspect ; on account of its resemblance 

 to the vine.) 



Calyx nearly entire. Petals 5. Style 1, very short. Stig- 

 ma capitate. Ovary not immersed in the disk, 2 4-se<>ded. 



1. A. cordata Mich. : stem climbing, with slender hnmrl."> : Ir-aves cor- 



