XLIL 
THE HORSE-CHESTNUT. 
THE HorsE-CHESTNUT (4isculus) is the type of the natural 
order Aisculacee, and it belongs to Heptandria monogynia in 
the Linnean system. 
AY. Hippocastanum (L.): The Common Horse-Chestnut.—The 
native habitat of this tree remains very uncertain, but it is 
believed to have been introduced into this country from the 
Levant, about the middle of the sixteenth century. It is most 
esteemed in a living state, and chiefly for embellishment. We 
have no other ornamental tree which attains to such dimen- 
sions, with blossoms so rich and beautiful. It is therefore 
much employed in avenues and hedgerows, and frequently in 
conspicuous parts along the margins of plantations. Happily 
situated in a congenial soil, it forms a beautiful object as a 
lawn tree, particularly when standing full grown on grounds 
of a corresponding magnitude. It rises with a straight trunk, 
and produces a large umbrageous head of a pyramidal form, 
closely clad with opposite digitated leaves of a deep green, 
After the foliage begins to expand, the tree is remarkable for 
its rapidity in forming the whole season’s growth, which is 
usually completed in three, or at most four weeks. The flower- 
stalks emerge above the leaves, and the blossoms are generally 
expanded by the end of May. The association of flowers of 
such beauty and delicacy with one of the loftiest of timber 
trees have caused the sportive imagination of some authors to 
compare the tree to many extravagant figures. It has been 
likened to an immense lustre or chandelier, from the structure 
of its blossoms tapering above its foliage like lights. Others 
have termed it the giant’s nosegay, a gigantic hyacinth, the 
