THE HORSE-CHESTNUTS C7 



showy in flower than tlie European species, but they 

 have the horse-shoe print with the nails in it where the leaf- 

 stalk meets the twig. The brown nuts, with the dull white 

 patch which fastens them in the husk, justifies the name 

 "buckeye." One nibble at the nut will prove to any one 

 that, as a fruit, it is too bitter for even horses. Bitter, 

 astringent bark is characteristic of the family. 



The Ohio Buckeye 



Ae. glabra, Willd. 



The Ohio buckeye has five yellow-green leaflets, smooth 

 when full grown, pale, greenish yellow flowers, not at 

 all conspicuous, and bitter nuts in spiny husks. The 

 whole tree exhales a strong, disagreeable odor. The 

 wood is peculiarly adapted to the making of artificial 

 limbs. 



The great abundance of this little tree in the Ohio Valley 

 accounts for Ohio being called the "Buckeye State." 



The Sweet Buckeye 



Ae. octandra. Marsh. 



The sweet buckeye is a handsome, large tree with green- 

 ish yellow, tubular flowers and leaves of five slender, 

 elliptical leaflets. Cattle will eat the nuts and paste 

 made from them is preferred by bookbinders; it holds 

 well, and book-loving insects will not attack it. These 

 trees grow on mountain slopes of the Alleghanies from 

 western Pennsylvania southward, and west to Iowa and 

 Texas. 



