Aesculus octandra, Marsh.

Form.—Height 50-80 feet, diameter 1-2½ feet; trunk usually short; crown conical or round-topped.

Leaves.—Opposite, digitately compound, leaflets 5-7, oval, 4-10 inches long, long-pointed, finely toothed, smooth and dark green above, somewhat hairy and yellowish-green beneath.

Flowers.—April-May; polygamo-monoecious or perfect, borne in terminal panicles 4-12 inches long; corolla yellow, with included stamens.

Fruit.—October; a large smooth irregularly rounded or pear-shaped pod or capsule, 1-2 inches thick, 3-celled but usually bearing only one large irregularly rounded, glossy, brown nut, which is somewhat poisonous.

Bark.—Evenly furrowed, the gray-brown ridges breaking up into irregular scales.

Wood.—Light, soft, yellowish, or nearly white.

Range.—Pennsylvania to Georgia, west to Oklahoma and Texas.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Common locally. Found in the following counties: Barbour, Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, Fayette, Kanawha, Lewis, Logan, Marshall, Mingo, Monongalia, Monroe, Pocahontas, Putnam, Ritchie, Summers, Tyler, Upshur (rare), Webster (rare), and Wyoming.

Habitat.—Rich soil, preferring river valleys.

Notes.—The wood of Sweet Buckeye is not important commercially, but is used to some extent for veneer, cooperage, candy boxes, paper pulp, etc. The tree is a rapid grower and is sometimes planted with satisfactory results on lawns and in parks. Variety hybrida (D. C.) Sarg. with calyx and corolla tinged with purple has been found at Weston and other points in the State.