THE HORSE-CHESTNUTS OR BUCKEYES. 255 



The fruit, about two inches or more in diameter, has 

 an uneven but not a prickly surface. The nut, one 

 or two in a husk, is about an inch or more broad. 

 The wood is light and strong, and is sometimes used 

 for making kitchen utensils. 



The purple sweet buckeye, ^sculus ootandra, var. 

 hyhrida (also called ^sculus flama, var. purpuras- 

 cens) has ruddy -colored or dull-purplish flowers, and 

 leaflets which are very downy beneath. Its bark is 

 lighter colored. 



The red buckeye {^sculus Pavia) is little more 

 than a shrub, but it occasionally grows to a height of 

 25 feet.* It has large clusters of bright-red flowers 

 (which bloom in May), and generally smooth leaves. 

 This tree grows wild in the fertile valleys of Virginia 

 and southward. It extends westward to Missouri. f 



the lateral petals are long, narrow, and roundish at the 

 ends. 



* The largest tree of this species in this country is in the gar- 

 den of Mr. Landreth, of Philadelphia ; it is 25 feet high, and has 

 a trunk circumference of three feet and three quarters. — Trees 

 and Tree- Planting, J. S. Brisbin. 



\ In the Carolinas its saponiferous roots are used as a substi- 

 tute for soap, and its bruised branches and bark are used to 

 stupefy fish in small ponds. — Trees and Tree-Planting, J. S. 

 Brisbin. 



