HIPPOCASTANACE.E— HORSE CHESTNUT 

 FAMILY 



OHIO BUCKEYE. FETID BUCKEYE 



yEsciiIiis is derived from csca, nourishment. Glabra, smooth. 



A tree varying in height from thirty to sc\'cnty feet, native only in 

 the valley of the Mississippi. Prefers the river bottoms; nowhere 

 abundant, but widely distributed. Roots tliick and fleshy. Reaches 

 its greatest development in the valley of the Tennessee and in 

 northern Alabama. 



Bark. — Dark gray, densely furrowed, broken into plates- Branch- 

 lets orange brown and downy, later reddish brown and smooth, 

 marked with many lenticular spots, finally dark brown. Fetid, me- 

 dicinal. 



Wood. — White, sapwood pale brown ; light, soft, close-grained. 

 Used especially in the manufacture of wooden limbs. Sp. gr., 0.4542; 

 weight of cu. ft., 2S.31 II33. 



Wiiilcr Buds. — f'ale brown, t«o-thirds of ,m inch long, acute, 

 outer scales with glaucous bloom. Inner scales enlarge when spring 

 growth begins, become an inch and a half to two inches long, green- 

 ish yellow tipped with red and remain until lca\ es are nearly half 

 grown. 



Lcai'cs. — Opposite, digitateh- compound. Leaflets fi\e, rarely 

 seven, o\al, oblong, or ovate, gradually contracted at the base, ser- 

 rate, acuminate, feather-veined ; midrib and primary veins promi- 

 nent. They come out of the bud a shining brownish green, downy; 

 when full grown are yellow green above, paler beneath. In :uUumn 

 they turn a rusty yellow. Petiole long, grooved, swollen at b;ise, 

 sometimes chaffy at the point wheie the leallets di\-erge. 



FloiVLrs. — April, May. June. TcrniinnI, pol\gamo-in(in(ecious, 

 yellow green, unihiteral: borne in terminal p.inicles hvc to si.K 

 inches long, two to three in breadth, more or less downy ; pedicels 

 four to six-flowered. 



