Alscidus macrostachya, 
THE EDIBLE BUCKEYE. 
Synonymes. 
JSsculus macrostachya, 
Pavia macrostachya, 
Pavia edulis, 
Pavier a longs epis, Pavier nain, 
Langahrige Rosskastanie, 
Pavia bianca, 
Edible Buckeye, Long-racemed Pavia, 
Michaux, Flora Boreali- Americana. 
Torre y and Gray, Flora of North America. 
De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Don, Miller's Dictionary. 
Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum. 
( Poiteau et Turpin, Traite des Arbres fruitiers de Du 
| Hamel. 
France. 
Germany. 
Italy. 
Britain and Anglo- America. 
Derivations. The specific name, macrostachya, is derived from the Greek macros, large, and stachus, a spike or raceme, 
in aliusion to the long racemes of flowers. The French name, Pavier nain, signifies Dwarf Pavia, from the small size of the 
plant. The other French name signifies Long-spiked Pavia, and the German name has the same signification. 
Engravings. Poiteau et Turpin, Traite des Arbres fruitiers de Du Hamel, pi. 88 ; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, i., 
figure 137 ; and the figures below. 
Specific Characters. Stamens much longer than the corolla; racemes very long. Root stoloniferous. 
Flowers white. De Candolle, Prodromus. 
Description. 
!HE Edible Buckeye, in its 
natural habitat, is a low ever- 
green shrub, seldom exceeding 
a height of three or four feet ; 
but in a state of cultivation, with proper man- 
agement, it partakes the character of a large 
shrub or small tree. The shoots are slender, 
spreading, and rooting at the joints where they 
happen to rest on the soil, with ascendant extrem- 
ities. The leaflets are from five to seven, oval- 
obovate, acuminate, serrate, and velvety-canescent 
beneath. They are supported on long slender petioles, which, from their graceful 
disposition, combined with the feathery lightness of the racemes of flowers, give 
the whole plant an air of elegance, unlike that of any of the dwarf races of this 
genus. The flowers, which put forth in its native country in April and May, 
appear in England, and in the middle and northern parts of the United States, a 
month or six weeks later than those of the common horse-chesnut. In large 
plants, however, situated in a moist soil, it continues in bloom for three months 
or longer, forming one of the greatest floral ornaments of the shrubbery, at a 
season too, when very few trees or shrubs are in flower. 
Geography and History. The iEsculus macrostachya is a native of the west- 
ern parts of South Carolina and Georgia, usually growing on the banks of rivu- 
lets or streams. It was introduced into Britain in 1786, by Mr. John Fraser, 
and has since been cultivated in most of the gardens on the continent. 
The largest recorded plant of this species in England, and perhaps on the 
globe, is in Berkshire, at White Knight's, near Reading, which had attained a 
height of fifteen feet in twenty-five years after planting. Several other plants, 
