TREES AM) SWirils. 



iESCULTJS SPLENDENS, Saeg. 



SPLENDENS, 71. SJ). 



Leaves five-foliate, their petioles slender, puberulous. from 9 to 12 centimetres in length; 

 leaflets lanceolate to oblanceolate, acuminate at the ends, finely often doubly Brenolate-aerrate, 

 yellow-green, puberulous along the upper side of the midribs, densely hoary-pubeseeni or late in 

 the autumn rufous-pubescent on the lower surface, from 8 to 14 centimetres long and from 1 to 

 5 centimetres wide, their petiolules pubescent, from 5 to 8 millimetres in length. Flowers from 

 3.5 to 4 centimetres long, on pubescent pedicels, in many-flowered puberulous panicles from 12 to 

 2.5 decimetres in length; calyx tubular, from 7 to 8 millimetres in diameter, bright red. puber- 

 ulous on the outer surface, glabrous on the inner surface, deeply five-lobed, the lobes narrowed 

 and rounded at the apex, glandular on the margins; petals connivent, very unequal, pubescent 

 and glandular on the back, glandular on the margins, their claws slightly villose on the inner 

 surface ; blades of the petals of the superior pair suborbicular to obovate, about G millimetres 

 in diameter, gradually narrowed below into claws as long as the lateral petals ; these slightly 

 shorter than the calyx, their blades oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, gradually narrowed 

 below, about 1.5 centimetre in length ; stamens usually seven, longer or shorter than the petals ; 

 filaments sparingly villose below the middle ; style exserted, villose toward the base. Fruit sub- 

 globose to short-obovate, the valves thin, light brown, deeply pitted ; seeds dark chestnut-brown, 

 lustrous, from 3 to 3.5 centimetres in diameter. 



A shrub, from 3 to 4 metres high, with slender branches dark reddish brown and puberulous 

 when they first appear, becoming glabrous and dull orange-brown at the end of their first season ; 

 winter-buds acute, from 6 to 7 millimetres long, with light chestnut-brown acute apiculate scales. 

 Flowers in April and May. Fruit ripens in September. 



Alabama : among Oaks and Hickories in moist calcareous soil overlying limestone, near and 

 east of Attalla, Etowa County, T. G. Harbison, May 5 and September 9, 1911 (Nos. 545 & 6(56, 

 type) ; on the road to Lookout Mountain, about three miles east of Alabama City, Etowa County, 

 on the slope of a rocky ridge in limestone soil, T. G. Harbison, May 6 and September, 1911 

 (No. 561, with larger leaflets and even larger flowers) ; near Birmingham, Jefferson County, 

 T. G. Harbison, April 22, 1912 (No. 871). Mississippi : roadsides, Natchez, Adams County, 

 C. S. Sargent, April 8, 1913 ; common. ? Louisiana : Winnfield, Winn Parish, R. S. Cocks and 

 C. S. Sargent, April 6, 1913. 



The flowers of this shrub are probably the handsomest of all the Horsechestnuts. In the pubescence on the lower 

 surface of the leaflets it resembles JEsculus discolor Pursh, but the leaves are generally lanceolate and only occasionally 

 broadest above the middle, while in JEsmlus discolor they are usually oblong-obovate with shorter petiolules than those 

 of JEsculus splendens. The flowers are larger in this species and the calyx is broad, although the breadth of the calyx 

 is a very uncertain character in the red-flowered species of iEsculus, flowers with a broad and those with a narrow 

 calyx sometimes occurring on the same plant. The best character, however, by which this species can be distinguished 



