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The leaflets of the common horsechestnut have a very 

 broad top, which rounds quite abruptly to a short point. 

 In late May or June these trees put out their beautiful 

 red blossoms in conspicuous, erect terminal racemes. 

 The individual flowers of the raceme are four-petaled, 

 with claws shorter than the calyx. Eight stamens are 

 folded within the clasp of the lovely rubicund petals. 

 The flowers are usually of a rich rose-red, scarlet, or 

 sometimes flesh-colored. They are succeeded by nuts 

 whose husks are covered with small prickles. 



Castanea sativa. (Spanish Chestnut. No. 62.) Di- 

 rectly south of the Hamilton Statue, you will find four 

 trees, gathered together in the form of a rough parallel- 

 ogram, These are common horsechestnut, European 

 linden (south of the horsechestnut), common horse- 

 chestnut again (east of the linden), and north of tHis 

 horsechestnut you will find the Spanish chestnut. The 

 group here stands south of the Hamilton Statue, clear 

 and fair on the open lawn between the Walk and the 

 Drive, and a little above a line from the northwesterly 

 corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 



The Spanish chestnut's leaves are shorter than those 

 of our own chestnut, and are of thicker, coarser tex- 

 ture. They are usually from five to nine inches long, 

 while those of our own species run from six to ten 

 inches. Our own chestnut is a variety of the Spanish 

 stock. Its nuts are smaller, but sweeter. The leaves 

 of the Spanish also differ from our native chestnuts 

 in being slightly pubescent on the undersides. This is 

 when the leaves are young; as they develop they be- 

 come smooth (glabrous). It blooms in June, with 



