DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 
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from its resembance to that tree, is too well known among 
us to need any description. 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. iEsculaceae. Lin. 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 effect 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 
