Red Buckeye 



66i 



hairy, becoming smooth and gray, the buds smooth, not sticky, blunt, the terminal 

 ones 6 mm. long or more. The leaves are usually composed of five leaflets; the 

 leaf-stalk is stout, finely hairy, 7 to 15 cm. long; the leaflets are usually short- 

 stalked, oblong- lanceolate to oblanceolate, pointed, 6 to 15 cm. long, finely and 

 somewhat irregularly toothed, and when mature are bright green and shining on 

 the upper side, but pale and densely velvety-hairy on the under surface; the lower 

 ones are sometimes very unequal-sided at the base. The flowers open in April 

 or May, the clusters i dm. long or longer, the flower-stalks densely and finely 

 haiiy; the calyx is finely hairy or nearly smooth, tubular or tubular- bell-shaped, 

 10 to 15 mm. long, its lobes short and blunt; the petals are very unequal, red, 

 similar to those of the Red buckeye ; the stamens are about as long as the narrower 

 pair of petals and have hairy filaments; the ovary is hair}\ The fruit is pear- 

 shaped or nearly globular, 6 cm. long or less, smooth, its valves thin; the seeds are 

 yellow-brown, 2 to 3.5 cm. broad. 



5. RED BUCKEYE ^sculus Pavia Linnaeus 



While usually a shrub not over 4 meters high, the Red buckeye occasionally 

 forms a small tree 6 meters tall. It grows in rich soil, in woods and along streams, 

 from Virginia to Florida, westward to Missouri, 

 Arkansas, and Texas, flowering in March, April, 

 or May. 



The bark is smooth and brown. The young 

 twigs are finely hairy or smooth, round, gray 

 to brown, the buds not resinous. The leaves 

 have 5 or 7 stalked leaflets; the slender leaf- 

 stalk is 15 cm. long or less; the leaflets are ob- 

 long, oblanceolate or obovate, rather thin, very 

 finely and closely toothed, 5 to 15 cm. long, 

 pointed, dark green, smooth and shining on the 

 upper surface when mature, paler green and 

 smooth or sUghtly hairy on the under side, the 

 base narrowed. The flower-clusters are i to 2 

 dm. long, the axis, flower-stalks, and calyx finely 

 hairy; the tubular calyx is reddish, about 1.5 

 cm. long, its lobes short and blunt; the petals are red, 2.5 to 4 cm. long, their 

 claws hairy, the upper pair with claws as long as the oblong blades, the lateral 

 pair with longer claws and nearly orbicular blades; the stamens are as long as 

 the petals or a httle longer, the lower parts of the filaments hair}^ The fruit is 

 smooth. 



Fig. 614. Red Buckeye. 



