lobed. Petals four or five, claws not longer than the calyx; stamens exserted. This section includes all the old-world species.
1. Æsculus Hippocastanum, Linnæus. Greece.
2. Æsculus indica, Colebrooke. Afghanistan, north-western Himalaya.
3. Æsculus punduana, Wallich, List 1189 (1828). Sikkim, western Duars, Khasia Hills, Upper Burma, Tenasserim, Siam, Tonking. Large tree. Leaflets six to seven, very large, thinly coriaceous, stalked, acuminate, serrate. Panicles 12 to 15 inches or more, flowers white or yellow. Fruit brown, smooth.
Not introduced and not likely to be hardy.
4. Æsculus chinensis, Bunge, Enum. Pl. Chin. Bor. 10 (1835). Northern and Central China. A tree, 40 to 50 feet high. Leaflets five to seven, large, stalked, obovate-oblong, rounded at the base, abruptly acuminate at the apex, finely serrate, shining above, glabrescent below except for pubescence along the nerves, petioles pubescent. Panicles, 8 inches long, pubescent. Flowers small, white; sepals shortly and unequally five-lobed, pubescent. Petals four, minute. Filaments glabrous. Fruit[1] pear-shaped or globular, small (¾ inch diameter), one-celled, three-valved, brown, covered with warts, not spiny.
This species has been much confused with the next, from which it differs in every way. The flowers, though small, are numerous in the large panicle, and the foliage is very handsome. It is common enough in the mountains of central China, in Shansi, and in the hills to the west of Peking; and when introduced is likely to prove hardy in England.
5. Æsculus turbinata, Blume. Japan.
II. Pavia. Buds not resinous. Calyx tubular, five-toothed. Petals four, yellow or scarlet.
6. Æsculus glabra, Willdenow. North America.
7. Æsculus octandra, Marshall. North America.
8. Æsculus Pavia, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 344 (1753); Bot. Reg. t. 993 (1826). Middle United States. A shrub. Leaves with slender grooved petioles, the edges of the grooves jagged. Leaflets five, obovate, acute at the base, acuminate at the apex, finely serrate without cilia, slightly pubescent beneath. Flowers in loose panicles, 4 to 7 inches long. Petals red, meeting at the tips; upper pair longer, with claws about three times as long as the small spathulate limb; lateral pair shorter, with claws as long as the calyx, and rounded limb equalling the claw in length; margin of petals beset with minute dark glands. Stamens as long as the upper pair of petals. Fruit brown, without spines.
This species, though only a shrub, is mentioned here at some length, as it closely resembles Æsculus octandra, and moreover enters into such important hybrids as Æsculus carnea, versicolor, etc. All its hybrids may be recognised by the red colour of the flowers and the glandular margin of the petals. It is readily distinguished from Æsculus octandra by its smaller leaves and peculiar petioles. In winter it shows the following characters:—Twigs slender, glabrous, shining, with numerous lenticels.
- ↑ Cf. Hance in Journ. Bot. viii, 312 (1870).
