THE HORSE-CHESTNUTS OR BUCKEYES. 255 



The fruit, about two inches or more in diameter, has 

 an uneven but not a prickly surface. The nut, one 

 or two in a husk, is about an inch or more broad. 

 The wood is light and strong, and is sometimes used 

 for making kitchen utensils. 



The purple sweet buckeye, JEsculus octandra, var. 

 kybrida (also called jEsculus jlava, var. purpuras- 

 cens) has ruddy-colored or dull-purplish flowers, and 

 leaflets which are very downy beneath. Its bark is 

 lighter colored. 



The red buckeye {/Esculus Pa/via) is little more 

 than a shrub, but it occasionally grows to a height of 

 25 feet.* It has large clusters of bright-red flowers 

 (which bloom in May), and generally smooth leaves. 

 This tree grows wild in the fertile valleys of Virginia 

 and southward. It extends westward to Missouri.f 



the lateral petals are long, narrow, and roundish at the 

 ends. 



* The largest tree of this species in this country is in the gar- 

 den of Mr. Landreth, of Philadelphia ; it is 25 feet high, and has 

 a trunk circumference of three feet and three quarters. Trees 

 and Tree-Planting, J. S. Brisbin. 



f In the Carolinas its saponiferous roots are used as a substi- 

 tute for soap, and its bruised branches and bark are used to 

 stupefy fish in small ponds. Trees and Tree- Planting, J. S. 

 Brisbin. 



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