[ 111 ] 
OHIO BUCKEYE, 
OK 
AMERICAN HORSE CHESNUT. 
Pavia ohioensis. P. foliis quinatis , incequaliter dentatis ; jloribus sub-flavis ; 
fructibus muricatis. 
This species of Horse Chesnut, which is mentioned by no author that 
has hitherto treated of the trees and plants of North America, is unknown 
in the Atlantic parts of the United States.* I have found it only beyond 
the Mountains, and particularly on the banks of the Ohio for an interval 
of about 100 miles, between Pittsburg and Marietta, where it is extremely 
common. It is called Buckeye by the inhabitants, but as this name has 
been given to the Pavia lutea I have denominated it Ohio Buckeye, be- 
cause it is most abundant on the banks of this river, and have prefixed the 
synonyme of American Horse Chesnut, because it proved to be a proper 
Horse Chesnut by its fruit, which is prickly like that of the Asiatic species, 
instead of being smooth like that of the Paviæ. 
The ordinary stature of the American Horse Chesnut is 10 or 12 feet, 
but it sometimes equals 30 or 35 feet in height, and 12 or 15 inches in 
diameter. The leaves are palmated, and consist of 5 leaflets parting from 
a common centre, unequal in size, oval-acuminate, and irregularly toothed. 
The entire length of the leaf is 9 or 10 inches, and its breadth 6 or 8 
inches. 
The bloom of this tree is brilliant : its flowers appear early in the spring, 
and are collected in numerous white bunches. The fruit is of the same 
color with that of the. Common Horse Chesmit and of the Large Buckeye, 
and of about half the size : it is contained in fleshy, prickly capsules, and 
is ripe in the beginning of autumn. 
On the trunk of the largest trees the bark is blackish, and the cellular 
tissue is impregnated with a venomous and disagreeable odor. The wood 
is white, soft, and wholly useless. 
The value of the Ohio Buckeye or American Horse Chesnut consists 
chiefly in the beauty of its flowers, which, with its rapid vegetation and 
hardy endurance of cold, will bring it into request both in Europe and 
America as an ornamental tree. 
[* Since the above was written this tree has been generally distributed in the United States.] 
