XIV. ZSCULA‘CEA : 2’/SCULUS. 125 
“a 
ie RU bl 
a 
Hy es 
Stuy ( 1 \Q 
f 
uy 
a 
ay 
\ 
166. ’sculus Hippocdstanum. 
unfit for use where great strength, and durability in the open air, are required ; 
nevertheless, there are many purposes for which it is applicable when sawn 
up into boards; such as for flooring, linings to carts, packing-cases, &c. The 
nuts may be used when burned as a kind of ley, or substitute for soap. The 
nuts, if wanted for seed, should be gathered up as soon as they drop, and 
either sown or mixed with earth; because, if they are left exposed to the air, 
they will lose their germinating properties in a month. Some nurserymen 
cause the nuts to germinate before sowing them, in order to have an opportu- 
nity of pinching off the extremity of the radicle; by which means the plants 
are prevented from forming a taproot; or, at least, if a taproot be formed, 1t 
is of a much weaker description than it otherwise would be, and the number 
of lateral fibres is increased ; all which is favourable for transplanting. When 
the tree is intended to attain the largest size, in the shortest time. the nut 
ought to be sown where the tree is finally to remain; because the use of the 
taproot is mainly to descend deep into the soil, to procure a supply of water, 
which, in dry soils and seasons, can never be obtained in sufficient quantities 
by the lateral roots, which extend themselves near the surface in search of 
nourishment and air. 
¥ 2. ZL. (H.) ontoe’nsts Michr. The Ohio Aisculus, or Horsechestnut. 
Identification. Mich. Arb., 3. p. 242. ; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 597.; Don’s Mill., 1. p. 652. 
Synonymes. ZE. ohioénsis Lindl. ; ?7E. pallida Wilid.; #. echinata Muhl.; Z. glabra Tor. & 
Gray; Pavia ohioénsis Michr.; Pavia glabra Spach; Ohio Buckeye, fetid Buckeye, Amer. 
All these synonymes appear to us very doubtful, when we compare them with the tree bearing this 
name in the Hort. Soc. Gardens, and with Dr. Lindley’s description of it in Bot. Reg. for 1838, 
t. 51, 
Engravings. Michx. Arb., 2. t.92.; Bot. Reg., 1838, t. 51. ; and our fig. 167. from Michaux. 
Spec. Char., §c. Stamens nearly twice the length of 
the (yellowish white) corolla; petals 4, spreading, a 
little unequal, the claw scarcely the length of the 
campanulate calyx; thyrsus ‘racemose, loosely flow- 
ered ; leaflets 5, oval or oblong, acuminate, fine and 
unequally serrate, glabrous. (Tor. and Gray, i. p.251.) 
A deciduous tree of the middle size. Pennsylvania 
and Virginia. Height in America 10 ft. to 30 ft. ; in the 
climate of London apparently the same as the com- 
mon horsechestnut. Introduced in? 1820. Flowers 
white, yellow, and red; May and June. Fruit brown ; 
ripe in October. Bark rough, fetid. Branches of 
the thyrsus of flowers short, 4—6-flowered; the 
flowers mostly unilateral, small (not half the size of 
those of the common horsechestnut). Fruit prickly, 
resembling that of the cultivated horsechestnut. 167, x. (11) onioénstas 
but scarcely half the size. (Tor. and Gray, i. p. 251.) 
