272 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 



is sometimes made from this tree though the sap is not so rich 

 in sugar as the sap of the Sugar Maple. 



Buckeye Family. 



An order consisting of two genera, the following of which 

 contains about 15 species natives of America and Asia. 

 None is native of Minnesota. 



Genus -ffiSCULTTS. 



Leaves opposite, digitate, 3 to 9-foliate. Flowers in a 

 terminal dense panicle, often polygamous, most of them with 

 imperfect pistils and only those near the base of the branches 

 of the inflorescence perfect and fertile; calyx tubular, 5-lobed, 

 often oblique or swollen at the base; petals 4 or 5; more or 

 less unequal with claws; stamens 5 to 8; ovary 3-celled with 2 

 ovules in each cell. Fruit a roundish leathery pod, 3-celled 

 and 3-seeded or usually by suppression 1 or 2-celled and 1 or 

 2 seeded, the remnants of the abortive cells and seeds common- 

 ly visible in the ripened pods, seeds 1 to 1| inches broad with 

 a hard chestnut brown coat; embryo filling the seed; cotyledons 

 very thick and fleshy. The large seeds of both species con- 

 tain a large amount of starch but present with it is a bitter 

 principle, esculine, which renders them unfit for food for man 

 although they are sometimes fed to sheep, goats and swine. 

 This bitter principle may be removed by repeated washings in 

 pure water and were it not for the cost of the operation the 

 nuts could be made a valuable food for man. 



Propagation. Both species here described are easily 

 propagated by seeds which should generally be sown in 

 autumn for they soon lose their vitality; also by layers made 

 in spring or fall. The varieties may be grown by grafting. 

 JEsculus hippocastanum. Horse Chestnut. 



Leaves made up of 5 to 7 (generally 7) leaflets. Inflor- 

 escence large and conspicuous. Petals 5, spreading, white, 

 spotted with purple and yellow. A large tree with round top, 

 large sticky buds and very dense foliage. 



