THE BUCKEYE FAMILY. 3.5 



SWEET BUCKEYE. BIG, OR YELLOW BUCKEYE. 



^■Esculus Oct and r a. 



Bark: dark brown, smooth or separating into thin strips. liranchUts: orange- 

 brown when young. Leaves: pahnately-conipouncl with usually five or soniciinu-. 

 seven, long, oval, or elliptical leaflets, taper-pointed at the aj)ex and base; sliari)ly- 

 serrate, glabrous above and pubescent along the ribs underneath, /^'itrvers: pale 

 yellow, growing on pedicels in close panicles. CWi'j:.' oblong, with five points. 

 'Corolla: with four petals, the upper narrower and longer than the others, 

 Staviens: shorter than the petals. J'ruit : a round green "husk, uneven on the 

 surface, but without prickles and enclosing one or two large brown, shiny nuts. 



Among the non-evergreen trees we find few more beautiful than this.the 

 handsomest of the American buckeyes ; and through our forests there are 

 none others which produce leaflets spreading like the fingers of a hand. 

 In the spring also their flowers are more showy than those of the greater 

 number of trees. On the high mountain slopes of North Carolina and 

 Tennessee the sweet buckeye attains splendid proportions and is there 

 quite common. As of all the species its light coloured wood is soft, straight 

 grained and easily worked, and is mostly employed for the making of small 

 articles and paper. The seeds of the genus as is well known are too bitter 

 to be palatable to man, but cattle and sheep feed on them freely. Flour is 

 made from them, and the paste produced with such has great tenacity and is 

 not eaten by moths. Bookbinders greatly prefer it to all other similar 

 stuffs. But the silent moonshiner has a use all his own for this buckeye's 

 seeds, as they are not peculiarly scented like those of other species. With 

 them he gives the appearance of age, or the bead, as he calls it. to the 

 whiskey he has distilled in some deep ravine, the still being hidden perhaps 

 by the very tree's dense shade. 



^. pdvia, red buckeye,which may be found from Florida to North Caro- 

 lina and westward, occurs as a small tree or shrub and is distinguished by 

 its five lanceolate, or oval, finely serrate leaflets and its unusual-looking 

 panicle of red flowers. The husk of its fruit also has the peculiarity of be- 

 ing quite smooth. By its bruised branches and roots a most disagreeable 

 odour is emitted while the latter contain a mucilaginous substance which 

 many natives utilise as soap. The ingenious also employ their narcotic 

 properties as a means of stupefying fish. 



jE. parvijlbra approaches at most ten feet high, is shrubby and bears a 

 long, raceme-like panicle of white flowers with stamens about three times 

 as long as the corolla. Underneath its leaflets arc covered with a white 

 tomentum. In the upper districts of Georgia and South Carolina it is 

 mostly found. 



