California Buckeye 



659 



2. OHIO BUCKEYE — iEsculus glabra WiUdenow 



This tree grows best in moist soil, especially along and near rivers, and is dis- 

 tributed from western Pennsylvania to Alabama, Illinois, Iowa, and the Indian 

 Territory. It is known also as Fetid buckeye and Stinking buckeye, from its 

 unpleasarit odor, and as American Horse- 

 chestnut. It attains a maximum height of 

 about 25 meters, with a trunk diameter of 6 

 dm., but is usually smaller, commonly not over 

 15 meters in height. 



The thick bark is gray, channelled, break- 

 ing up into plates. The young twigs are 

 brown and finely hairy, becoming smooth and 

 reddish brown. The terminal buds are 

 about 2 cm. long, pointed, their scales keeled, 

 nearly triangular, the outer ones covered with 

 a thin bloom. The leaves have 5 or 7 oblong 

 to obovate thin leaflets, which are quite hairy 

 when young, but only slightly hairy on the 

 pale green under side when old, 7 to 18 cm. 

 long, sharply and irregularly toothed with 

 small teeth, sharply rather long-pointed, nar- 

 rowed at the base and short-stalked; the 

 rather stout leaf -stalks are 15 cm. long or less, finely hairy when young, but become 

 smooth or nearly so. The tree flowers in April or May, having numerous yellow 

 or greenish flowers in dense finely hairy panicles; the flower-stalks are about 5 

 mm. long; the calyx is bell-shaped, 6 to 8 mm. long, finely hairy, the short lobes 

 blunt; the petals are 12 to 18 mm. long, crisped, loosely hairy, the limb longer than 

 the claw, that of the upper pair spatulate, narrower than that of the lateral ones; the 

 usually 7 stamens are considerably longer than the petals, their anthers orange; 

 the ovary is rough-prickly. The fruit is round or somewhat pear-shaped, 7 cm. 

 in diameter" or less, prickly, borne on stout stalks; the seeds are somewhat flat- 

 tened, 2 to 4 cm. broad. 



The wood is weak and soft, whitish, with a specific gravity of about 0.45, and 

 is used for paper-pulp, woodenware, in construction, and for artificial Hmbs. 



Fig. 611. — Ohio Buckeye. 



3. CALIFORNIA BUCKEYE — iEsculus califomica (Spach) Nuttall 



Calothyrsus califomica Spach 



The California buckeye is a low and very beautiful tree, which grows in river 

 valleys only in California. It attains a maximum height of 12 to 15 meters, with 

 a short trunk often a meter in diameter or more, but it is usually much smaller, 

 and commonly only a tall shrub. 



