710 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



ward near the coast to the neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, through Georgia 

 to the neighborhood of Rome, Floyd County, and southward to western Florida; in Ala- 

 bama widely distributed from Jefferson County southward; widely distributed in Missis- 

 sippi except in the neighborhood of the Gulf coast, to West Feliciana Parish, eastern Louisi- 

 ana; more common and generally distributed in western Louisiana, and through eastern 

 Texas to the valley of the San Antonio River (neighborhood of San Antonio, Bexar County) 

 and to that of the upper Guadalupe River (near Boerne, Kendall County), ranging north- 

 ward through Arkansas to southern Missouri and western Tennessee. 



On the Edwards Plateau of western Texas Aesculus discolor is represented by the var. 

 flavescens Sarg., with yellow flowers, appearing a few days earlier than those of the var. 

 mollis; a shrub 9'-12' high, or often much smaller; interesting as the only form of Eupaviae 

 with yellow flowers; San Marcos, Hays County, common on the slopes above Comal Springs, 

 near New Braunfels, Comal County, near Boerne, Kendall County (with the var. mollis), 

 Kerrville, Kerr County, and Cancan, Uvalde County. 



6. Aesculus californica Nutt. Buckeye. 



Leaves with slender grooved petioles 3'-4' long, and 4-7 usually 5 oblong-lanceolate 

 acuminate leaflets narrowed and acuminate or rounded at base, sharply serrate, 4'-6' long, 



Fig. 639 



l^'-fc' wide, dark green above, paler below, slightly pubescent when they first appear, 

 becoming glabrous or nearly so, on petiolules '-1' long; falling early, often by midsummer. 

 Flowers white or pale rose color, I'-l^' long, appearing from May to July when the leaves 

 are fully grown, on short pedicels mostly unilateral on the long branches of the densely 

 flowered long-stemmed pubescent cluster 3'-9' in length; calyx 2-lobed, slightly toothed, 

 much shorter than the narrow oblong petals; stamens 5-7, with long erect exserted slender 

 filaments and bright orange-colored anthers; ovary densely pubescent. Fruit obovoid, often 

 somewhat gibbous on the outer side, with thin smooth pale brown valves, usually 1-seeded, 

 2'-3' long, on a slender stalk \'-\' in length; seeds pale orange-brown, H'-2' broad. 



A tree, rarely 20-30 high, with a short trunk occasionally 4-5 in diameter, often much 

 enlarged at base, stout wide-spreading branches, forming a round-topped head, and branch- 

 lets glabrous and pale reddish brown when they first appear, becoming darker in. their 

 second season; more often a shrub, with spreading stems 10-15 high forming broad dense 

 thickets. Winter -buds acute, covered with narrow dark brown scales rounded on the 

 back and thickly coated with resin. Bark of the trunk about \' thick, smooth, and light 

 gray or nearly white. Wood soft, light, very close-grained, white or faintly tinged with 

 yellow, with thin hardly distinguishable sap wood of 10-12 layers of annual growth. 



