88 



WEEDS AXD USEFUL PLANTS. 



1. ^ES'CULUS, L. Horse-chestnut. 



[The ancient name of a tree ■\vliicii bore esculent fruit.] 



Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite, without stipules ; leaflets to pen- 

 ninerved. Flowers unsymmetrical; in large showy terminal thjrsoid 

 panicles or racemes, often polygamous. Calyx of 5 connected sepals. 

 Petals 5 (or sometimes 4. by the suppression of the lower one), un- 

 equal. Stamens 6-8. Ovary 3-celled ; styles united into one. Fruit a 

 subglobose coriaceous capsule, echinate or unarmed, mostly 1-celled by 

 abortion, 2 -3-valved with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seed mostly soli- 

 tary by abortion, large, subglobose, with a smooth shining reddish- 

 brown coat and broad paler hilurn, destitute of albumen ; cotyledons 

 very thick and fleshy, gibbous, cohering or soldered together, remaining 

 under ground in germination. 



1. JE. Hippocas'taxum, L. Leaflets in sevens, obovate-cuneate, acute, 

 dentate ; flowers 5-petaled ; fruit prickly. 



HoRSE-cHESTxuT ^scuLus. Horse-chestuut. 



Fr Maronnier d' Inde. Germ. Die Rosskastanie. Span. Castano de 

 Indias. 



St?7n 30 -50 or 60 feet high, and 1-2 feet in diameter, with numerous symmetrical rather 

 erect branches. Leaflets 4-6 or 8 inches long ; common petioles 4-6 inches long. Flowers 

 white or ochroleucous, with red spots and tinges of yellow. 



Cultivated. Native of Asia. Fl. May. Fr. Oct. 



Obs. This ornamental tree (which is often called English Horse Chest- 

 nut, because it came to us by way of England — but which originally 

 came from Xorthern India — ) has not been as generally introduced as it 

 deserves to be. It is symmetrical and handsome, and although of slower 

 growth than some others, it is, in my opinion, well worth waiting for — 

 on account of its rare beauty, and the perfect shade it affords. The 

 }T)ung shoots, or branches of each year, complete their development, and 

 come to a fall stop, early in the summer, — the residae of the season being 

 requisite to harden and prepare them to endure the succeeding winter ; 

 and no secondary branches are ever put forth during growth. This tree 

 has usually been remarkably exempt from the depredations of insects, 

 but during the past summer (1858) it has been, in some localities, badly 

 infested by them. In Philadelphia, numerous fine specimens were com- 

 pletely stripped of their foliage and probably the future vigor of the 

 trees much impaired. The red flowering Horse-chestnut [uE. rubicuxda 

 and CARXEA of the horticulturists) is probably a variety of this ; it is a 

 smaller tree and exceedingly beautiful when in flower. 



2. Pa'via, L. Leaflets 5 ; calyx tubular ; petals 4, erect and con- 

 niveut, the upper 2 longest ; stamens not longer than the corolla, fruit 

 smooth. 



Red Buckeye. 



