Genus jESCULUS, Linn. 
iEsculaceae. 
Syst. Nat. 
Heptandria Monogynia. 
Syst. Lin. 
Synonymes. 
JZsculus, Hippocastanum, Pavia, 
Of Authors. 
Marronier d'Indie, 
Rosskastanie. 
Ippocastano, 
Horse-chesnut, Buckeye. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo-America. 
jJerivations. The word JEsculus, derived from the Latin esca, nourishment, was applied by Pliny to a species of oak which 
lad an edible acorn. The name Hippocastanum, derived from the Greek hippos, a horse, and castanon, a chesnut, is sup- 
>osed to have been given to this tree, because, in Turkey, the nuts were used for curing horses of pulmonary diseases. The 
lame, Pavia, is so called, in honour of Peter Paw, a Dutch botanist. 
Distinctive Characters. Calyx campanulate, 5-lobed. Ovary roundish, trigonal. Seeds large and globose : 
albumen wanting. Embryo curved, inverted, with fleshy, thick, gibbous cotyledons, not produced 
above ground in germination. Plumule large, 2-leaved. Loudon, Arboretum. 
Y most modern botanists, the order iEsculacese, is supposed to 
embrace two separate genera, JEjsculus and Pavia, distinguished 
from each other chiefly by the former having echinated capsules, 
and the latter by having them smooth ; and also of the compar- 
ative roughness of their leaves. To us it appears doubtful, 
whether these circumstances are a sufficient generic distinction, 
since they vary much in different individuals, and since, in some of the kinds, 
which have apparently been produced between sesculus and pavia, the fruit is 
is smooth, or nearly as much so as in the pavige proper. We shall, therefore, 
embrace them all under four species, and regard the others as varieties. 
All the species, except one, which is a shrub, are deciduous trees, with deeply 
:ut leaves, and showy flowers. They are mostly natives of North America, 
and some of the varieties are recognized, in Brazil, northern India, and Japan. 
Their fruit is usually large and bitter, sternutatory, abounding in potash and 
starch, and containing a febrifuge called cesculine. Their bark is tonic and 
astringent. 
