118 SAPIXDACIC^E. (sOArUKURT FAMILY.) 



7 (rarely 6 or 8) : filaments long and slender, often unequal. Style 1 : ovary 

 3-eellcd, witli '2 ovules in eaeli, only one of whieli, or one in eaeli cell, forms a 

 seed. Seed very lar<re, with a tiiiek and siiining eoat, and a large and round 

 pale sear, wiiliout alliunien. Cotyledons very thiek and fleshy, their eontiguous 

 faees more or less united, remaining under ground in germination : plumule 2- 

 leaved : radiele eurved. — Trees or shrubs. Leaves op])osite, digitate : leaflets 

 sciTate, straight-veined, like a Chestnut-leaf. Flowers in a terminal thyrsus or 

 dense jianiele, often fiolygamous, the greater portion with imperfeet pistils and 

 sterile. Pedieels jointed. Seeds farinaeeous, hut imluied with a bitter and 

 nareotie prineiple. (Tiie ancient name of some Oak ur other mast-bearing 

 tree.) 



§1. ^SCULUS proper. Fruit covered with prickles when tjofuij. 

 1. JB. IIirroi.VsTAM M, L. (Common IIousk-ciiestnut.) Corolla 

 spreading, white spotted with purple and yellow, of 5 petals ; stamens deelined ; 

 leaflets 7. — Commonly ])lanted. (xVdv. from Asia via En.) 



2. S^. glabra, Willd. (Fktid or Ohio Buckeyk.) Stamens curved, 

 longer than the ])ale yellow eorolla of 4 upright petals; leaflets 5. — River- 

 banks, AV. I'enn. and Virginia to Jfiehigan and Kentucky. June. — A large 

 tree; the bark exhaliTig an unpleasant odor, as in the rest of the genus. Flow- 

 ers small, not showy. 



§ 2. PA VIA, Boerhaavc. Fruit smooth : petals 4, connivinrj ; the 2 upper- smaller 

 and longer than the others, icith a small and rounded blade on a very long chnu. 



3. ^. fl^va, Ait. (Sweet Buckeye.) Stamens indudnl in the yellow 

 corolla; cali/.r oli/ont/-rani/innnhite ; leaflets .5, sometimes 7, glabrous, or often 

 minutely downy underneath. — Rich woods, Virginia to Ohio, Indiana, and 

 southward. May. A large tree or a shrub. 



Var. purpui'ascens. Flowers (both calyx and corolla) tinged with flesh- 

 color or dull purple ; leaflets commonly downy brneath. (JE. discolor, Pursh.) 



— From West Vii-giuia southward and westward. 



4. ^. Pavia, Jj. (Red Buckeye.) Stamens not longer than the co- 

 rolla, which is bright red, as well as the tubular cali/.r ; leaflets glal)rous or soft- 

 downy beneath. — Fertile valleys, Virginia, Kentucky, and southward. May. 



— A shrub or small tree. 



3. ACER, Tourn. Maple. 



Flowers polygamo-dirreions. Calyx colored, .5- (rarely 4 - 12-) lobed or parted. 

 Petals either none, or as many as the lobes of the calyx, equal, with short claws 

 if any, inserted on the margin of Uie lobed disk, which is either pcrigynous or 

 hypogynous. Stamens 3-12. Ovary 2-celled, with a pair of ovules in each : 

 styles 2, long and slender, united only below, stigmatie down the inside. From 

 the back of each ovary grows a wing, converting the fruit into two 1 -seeded, at 

 length .separable samaras or keys. Seed without albumen. Embryo variously 

 coiled or folded, with large and thin cotyledons. — Trees, or sometimes shrubs, 

 with o])posite ])almately-lobed leaves, and small flowers. Pedicels not jointed. 

 (The classical name, from the Celtic ac, hard.) 



