658 



The Buckeyes 



leathery valves which split when it is ripe to release the one to three large shin- 

 ing seeds. 



Capsule spiny, at least when young; stamens exserted. 

 Flowers white, mottled with yellow and purple; petals 5; intro- 

 duced European tree. 

 Flowers yellow or greenish yellow; petals 4; native tree. 

 Capsule smooth; petals 4; native trees. 



Stamens much exserted; winter-buds resinous; California tree. 

 Stamens included or but little exserted; winter-buds not resinous; 

 eastern and southern trees. 

 Calyx tubular, red or reddish. 

 Leaflets densely tomentose beneath; seeds yellow-brown. 

 Leaflets glabrate beneath; seeds dark brown. 

 Calyx oblong-campanulate, greenish. 



1. M. Hippocastanum. 



2. ^. glabra. 



3. M. calijornica. 



4. ^. austrina, 



5. M. Pavia. 



6. jE. octandra. 



I. HORSECHESTNUT — ^culns ffippocastanum Linnaeus 



The Horsechestnut, a native of Asia, has long been cultivated for shade and 

 ornament in Europe and America, and it has escaped from cultivation locally in 



the eastern United States. It is a very large 

 tree with spreading branches, sometimes at- 

 taining a height of about 30 meters, with a 

 trunk 2 meters in diameter. 



The bark of the old trees is i cm. thick 

 or more, shallowly fissured into small irregular 

 scaly dull brown plates. The young twigs are 

 smooth, round, reddish brown, with large leaf 

 scars, the large pointed buds very resinous- 

 sticky. The long-stalked leaves are hairy 

 when yoimg, but smooth or nearly so when 

 old; there are 5 or 7 leaflets, dark green on 

 the upper surface, paler green beneath; they 

 are obovate or oblanceolate, i to 2 dm. long, 

 abruptly pointed, irregularly finely toothed, 

 wedge-shaped at the base. The flowers are 

 - Horsechestnut. jjj j^rge clusters often 3 dm. long, at the ends 



of branches, and open in June or July; the axis of the cluster, the flc wer-stalks 

 and calyx are finely hairy; the calyx is bell-shaped and 5-lobed; the petals are 

 white, blotched with red and yellow, unequal in size and shape; the stamens are 

 longer than the petals and curved upward. The globular fruit is covered with 

 prickles and contains several shining brown seeds. 



The tree is called Chestnut in England, as distinguished from the Sweet chestnut 

 (Castanea), and is also known as Bongay. It is much used as a street tree in 

 European cities. 



Fig. 610. - 



