xiv. 



^'SCULUS. 



125 



166. yE'sculus Hippocastanum. 



unfit for use where great strength, and durability in the open air, are required ; 

 nevertheless, there are many purposes for which it is applicable when sawn 

 up into boards ; such #s for flooring, linings to carts, packing-cases, &c. The 

 nuts may be used when burned as a kind of ley, or substitute for soap. The 

 nuts, if wanted for seed, should be gathered up as soon as they drop, and 

 either sown or mixed with earth ; because, if they are left exposed to the air, 

 they will lose their germinating properties in a month. Some nurserymen 

 cause the nuts to germinate before sowing them, in order to have an opportu- 

 nity of pinching off the extremity of the radicle ; by which means the plants 

 are prevented from forming a taproot ; or, at least, if a taproot be formed, it 

 is of a much weaker description than it otherwise would be, and the number 

 of lateral fibres is increased ; all which is favourable for transplanting. When 

 the tree is intended to attain the largest size, in the shortest time, the nut 

 ought to be .sown where the tree is finally to remain ; because the use of the 

 taproot is mainly to descend deep into the soil, to procure a supply of water, 

 which, in dry soils and seasons, can never be obtained in sufficient quantities 

 by the lateral roots, which extend themselves near the surface in search of 

 nourishment and air. 



2. JE. (H.) OHIOE'NSIS Michx. The Ohio ^Esculus, or Horsechestnut. 



Identification. Mich. Arb., 3. p. 242. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 597. ; Don's Mill., 1. p. 652. 



Synonymes. JS. ohioensis Lindl. ; t IE. pallida Willd.; JE. echinata Muhl.\ M. glabra Tor. & 



Gray; Pavm ohioensis Michx.; Pavta glabra Spook; Ohio Buckeye, fetid Buckeye, Amer. 



All these synonymes appear to us very doubtful, when we compare them with the tree bearing this 



name in the Hort. Soc. Gardens, and with Dr. Lindley's description of it in Bot. Reg. for 1838, 



t.51. 

 Engravings. Michx. Arb., 2. t. 92.-; Bot. Reg., 1838, t. 51. ; and our fig. 167. from Michaux. 



Spec. Char., fyc. Stamens nearly twice the length of 

 the (yellowish white) corolla ; petals 4, spreading, a 

 little unequal, the claw scarcely the length of the 

 campanulate calyx ; thyrsus racemose, loosely flow- 

 ered ; leaflets 5, oval or oblong, acuminate, fine and 

 unequally serrate, glabrous. {Tor. and Gray, i. p. 251.) 

 A deciduous tree of the middle size. Pennsylvania 

 and Virginia. Height in America 10ft. to 30ft. ; in the 

 climate of London apparently the same as the com- 

 mon horsechestnut. Introduced in ? 1820. Flowers 

 white, yellow, and red ; May and June. Fruit brown ; 

 ripe in October. Bark rough, fetid. Branches of 

 the thyrsus of flowers shoi't, 4 6-flowered ; the 

 flowers mostly unilateral, small (not half the size of 

 those of the common horsechestnut). Fruit prickly, 

 resembling that of the cultivated horsechestnut. 

 but scarcely half the size. (Tor. and Gray, \. p. 251.) 



M. (H.) ohioensb. 



