253. AESCULUS OLABRA OHIO BUCKEYE. 21 



USES. Wood very similar in appearance and properties to that of the 

 commercial holly (/. opaca) and would doubtless be applied to the same 

 uses were it procurable in sufficient size and quantity. 



Although a highly desirable species for ornamental planting, on account 

 of its attractive foliage and large fruit, the period of its retention of leaves 

 and fruit is unfortunately short. 



ORDER HIPPOCASTANACE-ffi: HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY. 



Leaves deciduous, opposite, petiolate, digitately compound, with 3-9 serrate leaflets, and 

 without stipules. Flowers appearing after the leaves, conspicuous, polygamous, in showy 

 terminal cymes or panicles, only the lowermost flowers generally fertile; pedicel jointed: 

 calyx campanulate with 5 unequal lobes, imbricated in the bud; petals 4-5, unequal, 

 clawed; disk hypogenous, annular; stamens 5-8, usually 7, unequal with elongated filiform 

 filaments and introrse 2-celled anthers longitudinally dehiscent; ovary sessile, 3-celled, with 

 2 ovules in each cell ; style slender, elongated, curved, and with terminal stigma. Fruit 

 a coriaceous 3-valved 1-2-seeded capsule, loculicidally dehiscent; seeds large, round or 

 irregularly himispherical with smooth shining brown coat, large pale hilum, large thick 

 unequal cotyledons, 2-leaved plumule and remaining underground in germination. 



Trees and a few shrubs with ill-scented bark, large branchlets and buds, and of about 

 eighteen species natives of North America and Asia and grouped in two genera, Aesculus 

 and Billia, tile latter a genus of Mexico and Central America. 



GENUS iESCULUS, L. 



A genus of ten or twelve species of which four native and one naturalized are repre- 

 sented among the trees of America. The characters are those of the family. 

 The name is the classical name of a kind of oak and transferred to this genus. 



253. AESCULUS GLABRA, WILLD. 



OHIO BUCKEYE. FETID BUCKEYE. 

 Ger., Ranzige-Kastanie. Fr., Marronnier Fetide. Sp., Castano Fetido. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS : Leaves with petioles 4-6 in. long and 5-7 oval or oblong leaf- 

 lets 3-6 in. long cuneate and entire at base, acuminate, finely unequally serrate above, at 

 maturity glabrous on upper surface, pubescent on the veins beneath and on the petioles, 

 Floicers (April-May) yellowish green, about % in. long, mostly unilateral in loose 

 pubescent panicles 5-6 in. long; calyx campanulate; petals of nearly equal length, the 

 claws about equally as long as the calyx but the lateral pair broader ; stamens longer than 

 the petals, usually 7, with long curved filaments; ovary pubescent and armed M 7 ith prickles. 

 Fruit irregularly obovate or subglobose, 1-2 in. long, more or less roughened with prickles; 

 seed 1-1% in. wide. 



A small or medium-size tree, occasionally attaining the height of 75 ft. 

 C23 m.) and with a trunk diameter of 2 ft. (0.61 m.), but it is not oom- 

 monly of more than half these dimensions. When isolated it develops a 



