HIPPOCASTANACE^: 645 



on the lower than on the upper surface, 4'-6' long and l^'-2' wide, turning yellow 

 in the autumn before falling. Flowers pale yellow-green, mostly unilateral, '-!' 



long or more than twice as long as the pedicels, appearing in April and May in 

 clusters 5'-6' long, 2'-3' wide, and more or less densely covered with pubescence, with 

 short usually 4-6- flowered branches; calyx campanulate; petals nearly equal, puber- 

 ulous, the thin limb about twice as long as the claw, in the lateral pair broadly ovate 

 or oblong, and in the superior oblong-spatulate, much narrower, sometimes marked 

 with red stripes; stamens usually 7, with long exserted curved pubescent filaments 

 and orange-colored slightly hairy anthers; ovary pubescent, covered with long slen- 

 der deciduous prickles thickened and tubercle-like at the base. Fruit on a stout stem 

 '-!' long, ovate or irregularly obovate, pale brown, l'-2' long, with thin or some- 

 times thick valves, roughened by the enlarged persistent prickles of the ovary; seeds 

 !'-!' broad. 



A tree, occasionally 70 high, with a trunk rarely 2 in diameter, small spreading 

 branches, and branchlets orange-brown and covered at first witli short fine pubes- 

 cence; soon glabrous, reddish brown, and marked by scattered orange-colored lenti- 

 cels, usually much smaller, and rarely more than 30 high. Winter-buds f long, 

 acuminate, with thin nearly triangular pale brown scales, the outer bright red on the 

 inner surface toward the base, the inner pair strap-shaped, prominently keeled on 

 the back, minutely apiculate and slightly ciliate along the margins, and at maturity 

 l'-2' long and bright yellow. Bark of young stems and of the branches dark brown 

 and scaly, becoming on old trees f thick, ashy gray, densely furrowed, and broken 

 into thick plates roughened on the surface by numerous small scales. Wood light 

 soft, close-grained, not strong, often blemished by dark lines of decay, nearly white, 

 with thin dark-colored sapwood of 10-12 layers of annual growth; used in the manu- 

 facture of artificial limbs, wooden ware, wooden hats, and paper pulp; occasionally 

 sawed into lumber. An extract of the bark has been used as an irritant of the cere- 

 bro-spinal system. 



Distribution. River-bottoms and the banks of streams in rich moist soil ; western 

 slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, Pennsylvania, to northern Alabama, and west- 

 ward to southern Iowa, central Kansas, the Indian Territory, southern Nebraska, 

 and eastern Kansas; nowhere abundant; most common and of its largest size in the 

 valley of the Tennessee River in Tennessee and northern Alabama. A form (var. 



