DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 155 



from its resembance to that tree, is too well known among 

 us to need any desbription. Only one sex, the female, has 

 hitherto been introduced into this country ; and it has con- 

 sequently produced no seeds here, but has been entirely 

 propagated by suckers from the root. 



The Horse-chestnut Tree. JEsculus. 

 Nat. Ord. ^seulaceae. Zin. Syst. Heptandria, Monogynia. 



A large, showy, much admired, ornamental tree, bearing 

 large leaves composed of seven leaflets, and, in the month 

 of May, beautiful clusters of white flowers, delicately mot- 

 tled with red and yellow. It is a native of Middle Asia, 

 but flourishes well in the temperate climates of both hemi- 

 spheres. It was introduced into England, probably from 

 Turkey, about the year 1575 : in that country the nuts are 

 often ground into a coarse flour, which is mixed with other 

 food and given to horses that are broken- winded ; and from 

 this use the English name of the tree was derived. 



A starch has been extracted in considerable quantity 

 from the nuts. The wood is considered valueless in the 

 United States. 



The Horse-chestnut is by no means a picturesque tree, 

 being too regularly rounded in its outlines, and too compact 

 and close in its surface, to produce a spirited efiect in light 

 and shade. But it is nevertheless one of the most beautiful 

 exotic trees which will bear the open air in this climate. 

 The leaves, each made of clusters of six or seven leaflets, 

 are of a fine dark-green color; the whole head of foliage 



