HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY 



where our natives would die, and the Horse-chestnut is 

 stronger than the Buckeye. There is a certain dehcacy of 

 fibre inseparable from all American native life. Perhaps 

 som.e day the biologist will read the riddle. 



The Sweet Buckeye, y'Escidiis octdndra^ is a beautiful tree of 

 the Alleghany Mountains, ranging from Pennsylvania to Ala- 

 bama and westward to the Indian Territory. It reaches its 

 greatest size in Tennessee and North Carolina. Its leaflets 

 are five to seven, dark yellow green and smooth, except the 

 midrib and veins which are sometimes downy. The flowers 

 are borne in panicles five to seven inches long, are yellow, 

 varying from pale to dark. The nuts are large, one and a 

 half to two inches broad, the capsule smooth. A variety of 

 this tree, yE. octandra hybrida, characterized by its red or 

 purple flowers, has long been a favorite in gardens, where it 

 often makes a handsome head of pendulous branches. The 

 name Sweet Buckeye means simply that the bark is less fetid 

 than that of others of the genus. 



HORSE-CHESTNUT 



Aisc II I Its h ippocdstan Ji m . 



Hippocastanum from hippos, a horse, and castanea a chestnut. 



Cultivated. Introduced into Europe in the seventeenth century. 

 Favorite tree for parks, lawns, and roadsides. Roots fleshy; pre- 

 fers a strong, rich soil ; reaches the height of one hundred feet. 



Bark. — Dark brown, roughened with small excrescences, or divided 

 by shallow fissures. Branchlets reddish brown, shining, at length 

 dark brown. Abounds in tannic acid, fetid. 



Wood. — White, light, soft, close-grained, not durable. 



Winter Buds. — Terminal, large, an inch to an inch and a half long, 

 covered with resinous gum, brown, axillary buds smaller. Scales 

 in pairs, closely imbricated, within are leaves completely formed 

 and packed in white tomentum. Scales enlarge when spring growth 

 begins, the inner become yellow green tipped with red. One and 

 a half to two inches long before they fall. 



Leaves. — Opposite, digitately compound. Leaflets seven, obovate, 

 five to seven inches long, wedge-shaped at base, serrate, acute or 



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