SAPINDACE^E. 



213 



sub-generic rank. Their medicinal qualities are much the same, being 

 tonic, and sometimes narcotic and emetic. 



JE,. hippocastanum, Linn. — Leaves digitate, with 7 obovate, acuminate leaflets. Petals 

 5. Stamens 7. Fruit echinate. 



Linn., Sp. PI, 488; Woodville, 349; Stephenson and Churchill, ii. 68; 

 Lindley, FL Med., 124. 



Common Names. — Horse-chestnut, Buck-eye. 



Foreign Names. — Marronier d'Inde, Fr. ; Castagno d'India, It. ; Ross- 

 kastanienbaum, Ger. 



Description.— A beautiful and lofty Fig. 109. 



tree, with numerous, spreading 

 branches, covered with a rough, 

 brown bark. The wood is white and 

 soft, and is very liable to decay. The 

 leaves are on long footstalks, are large, 

 and composed of seven leaflets, arising 

 from a common centre, the middle one 

 being the largest ; they are of a spa- 

 thulate form, acuminate, serrate, much 

 varied, and of a bright green colour. 

 The flowers are in thyrsoid racemes 

 or panicles, at the extremity of the 

 branches. The calyx is pale green, 5- 

 toothed and spreading. The corolla is 

 formed of five petals, which are irregu- 

 lar, unequal, spreading, inserted into 

 the calyx by narrow claws, waved at 

 the edges, of a white colour, marked be- 

 low with a yellowish-red spot. The sta- 

 mens are seven, with awl-shaped fila- 

 ments, supporting reddish, oblong, dou- 

 ble anthers. The ovary is roundish, 

 and furnished with a short style and 

 pointed stigma. The fruit is prickly, 

 coriaceous, roundish, 3-celled, and usu- 

 ally containing two seeds. These seeds 

 are exalbuminous, with a brown, shin- 

 ing testa, and a large, paler hilum. 



This magnificent tree is a native of the northern region of Asia, but has been 

 cultivated in most parts of Europe since the middle of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, when it was introduced by Clusius ; it was brought to this country 

 soon after its settlement, where, however, it is not commonly planted, as 

 its place is supplied by native species of equal beauty. It is of rapid growth, 

 and flowers in May and June, ripening its fruit late in the autumn. 



The JEsculus of the Romans was a kind of oak, and not the tree now 

 under consideration, which, as before said, was not known in Europe until 

 the year 1550, when it was described by Matthiolus, from specimens received 

 from Constantinople. At the time Clusius wrote,it was still so scarce, that 

 but one tree existed at Vienna. Even at the period of the publication of Par- 

 kinson's great work, it was so little known, that he mistakes it for a kind of 

 chestnut, and observes, " it is of greater and more pleasant aspect for its fair 

 leaves, but also of as good use for the fruit, which is of a sweet taste, roasted 

 and eaten, as the ordinary sort of chestnut." The tree is said to derive its 

 name from the fact that horses will eat the nut greedily. They are also eaten 

 by sheep, goats, and deer ; but their extreme bitterness requires to be de- 



M. hippocastanum. 

 i Flower, b Fruit. 



