HORSE-CHESTNUT FAMILY 



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

 stronger than the Buckeye. Tliere is a certain delicacy of 

 fibre inseparable from all American native life. Perhaps 

 some day the biologist will read the riddle. 



The Sweet Bucktye, .Esculiis oddndra, is a beautiful tree of 

 the Alleghany Mountains, ranging from Pennsylvania to Ala- 

 bama and westward to the Indian 'Perritory. It reaches its 

 greatest size in Tennessee and North Carolina. Its leaflets 

 are five to seven, dark yellow green and smooth, e.\cept the 

 midrib and veins which are sometimes downy. 'Phe 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 Ijroad, the capsule smooth. A variety of 

 this tree, .E. oitaiidra hvbrida^ cluiracterized by its red or 

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

 often makes a handsome head of pendulous branches. The 

 name Sweet I3iickeye means simply that the bark is less fetid 

 than that of others of the genus. 



HORSE-CHESTNUT 



^dLscnlUs lnppO(dslaiinni. 



Ilippocnstanuni from hippos, a liorse, and {astauea a chestnut. 



Culti\atC(l. Introduced into Kiirope in the scvcnteentli century 

 Fa\'Oiile tree for parks, lawns, and roadsides. Roots fleslry ; pre- 

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



Ihirh. — Dark brown, roughened with small excrescences, or di\'idcU 

 by shallow fissm-es. Branchlets reddish iDrown, sliining, at lengdi 

 dark brown. Abounds in tannic acid, fetid. 



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



Wintci' Buds. — Terminal, large, an inch to an incli 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 tonientmii. 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, 



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

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



54 



