California Buckeye 



659 



2. OHIO BITCKE YE -ffisculus glabra Willdenow 



This tree grows best in moist soil, especially along and near rivers, and is dis- 

 tributed from western Pennsylvania to Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, and the Indian 

 Territory. It is knovra also as Fetid buckeye and Stinking buckeye, from its 

 unpleasant odor, and as American Horse- 

 chestnut. It attains a maximum height of 

 about 25 meters, with a trunk diameter of 6 

 dm., but is usually smaller, commonly not over 

 15 meters in height. 



The thick bark is gray, channelled, break- 

 ing up into plates. The young twigs are 

 brown and finely hair}% becoming smooth and 

 reddish brown. The terminal buds are 

 about 2 cm. long, pointed, their scales keeled, 

 nearly triangular, the outer ones covered with 

 a thin bloom. The leaves have 5 or 7 oblong 

 to obovate thin leaflets, which are quite hairy 

 when young, but only slightly hairy on the 

 pale green under side when old, 7 to 18 cm. 

 long, sharply and irregularly toothed with 

 small teeth, sharply rather long-pointed, nar- 

 rowed at the base and short- stalked ; the 

 rather stout leaf-stalks are 15 cm. long or less, finely hairy w^hen young, but become 

 smooth or nearly so. The tree flowers in April or May, having numerous yellow 

 or greenish fiowei*s in dense finely hairy panicles; the flower-stalks are about 5 

 mm. long; the calyx is bell-shaped, 6 to 8 mm. long, finely hairy, the short lobes 

 blunt; the petals are 12 to 18 mm. long, crisped, loosely hairy, the Umb longer than 

 the claw, that of the upper pair spatulate, narrower than that of the lateral ones; the 

 usually 7 stamens are considerably longer than the petals, their anthers orange; 

 the ovary is rough-prickly. The fruit is round or somewhat pear-shaped, 7 cm. 

 in diameter or less, prickly, borne on stout stalks; the seeds are somewhat flat- 

 tened, 2 to 4 cm. broad. 



The wood is weak and soft, whitish, with a specific gravity of about 0.45, and 

 is used for paper-pulp, woodenware, in construction, and for artificial limbs. 



611. Ohio Buckeve. 



3. CALIFORNIA BUCKEYE iEsculus calif ornica (Spach) NuttuU 



Calothyrsiis calijornica Spach 



The California buckeye is a low and ver\' beautiful tree, which grows in river 

 valleys only in Cahfomia. It attains a maximum height of 12 to 15 meters, with 

 a short trunk often a meter in diameter or more, but it is usually much smaller, 

 and commonly only a tall shrub. 



