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Aesculus splendens Sarg.

Modern name

Aesculus pavia L.

A deciduous shrub 9 to 12 ft high; young shoots slender and at first very finely downy. Leaves of five leaflets which are lanceoloate or oblanceolate, slender-pointed, toothed; 4 to 6 in. long, 2 to 312 in. wide; covered with a down beneath that is at first greyish, then rust-coloured, their stalks about 14 in. long. Flowers 112 in. long borne in pyramidal panicles 6 to 10 in. high, opening in May. Calyx tubular, bright red, 13 in. wide; petals scarlet. Fruit roundish to obovoid; seeds 114 in. wide, chestnut-brown.

Native of the S.E. United States. It is one of the smooth-fruited species and is related to A. pavia, which differs in the glabrous or nearly glabrous undersurface of the leaves. Sargent observes of A. splendens that its flowers are probably the handsomest in the genus. At Kew this shrub has proved rather disappointing, its flowers being of a lacklustre scarlet, in narrow panicles.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

This is included in A. pavia by Hardin. The Kew plant mentioned on page 263 provided the material figured in Bot. Mag., n.s., t.857.

Genus

Aesculus

Other species in the genus