| − | Aesculus hippocastanum, Linn. COMMON HORSE-CHESTNUT. Fig. 133. Large tree, 60-80 ft.: lfts. 5-7, sessile, cuneate-obovate, acuminate, obtusely serrate, nearly glabrous: panicles 8-12 in. long, very showy; fls. white, tinged with red, 3/4in. long: fr. echinate. May. N. Greece, Bulgaria. — Many garden forms; the most important are: Var. Baumannii, Schneid. (var. flore-pleno, Lem.), with double white fls. Var. Schirahoferi, Rosenth., with double yellowish red fls. Var. pumila, Dipp., dwarf form. Var. umbraculifera, Rehd., with compact round head. Var. pyramidalis, Nichols., with compact, narrow, pyramidal head. Var. laciniata, Leroy (var. dissecta, Hort., var. heterophylla, Hort.), lfts. laciniate. Var. incisa, Dipp. Lfts. short and broad, deeply and doubly serrate to incisely lobed. Var. Henkelii, Henkel, is little different, only the lfts. are narrower and the habit more pyramidal. Var. variegata, Loud., lvs. variegated with yellow. Var. Memmingeri, Bean. Lvs. sprinkled with white.—The horse-chestnut is one of the most popular of shade trees on the continent of Europe, and is also much planted along roads and in parks and private grounds in this country. It is particularly adaptable for bowers and places where seats are desired, as the top stands heading-in and makes a very dense shade. It is the first of all shade trees to burst into leaf. When smaller, more formal trees are desired, var. umbraculifera should be planted. The double-fld. forms are to be recommended for the longer duration of their fls. and for the absence of the fr. which is of
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| − | great, often annoying, attraction to the small boy. In dry situations, the planting of the horse-chestnut should be avoided, as the foliage is likely to suffer, particularly in dry seasons, from drought and heat.
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