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Show * a2. Pre i ih <p + Sa; * in Pe HORSE CHESTNUT. AESCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM. COMMON SORREL. RUMEX ACETOSA. Class V1. Hexandria. Order (11. Trigynia. Esseny. Gen. Cuan. Calyx triphyllous: Petals three, conniving: Seed one, triquetrous. Spec. CHar. Flowers dicecious: Leaves oblong, sagittate. a DESCRIPTION. Ir rises from one to two feet. The radical leaves are arrowshaped, of a bright green colour, and stand upon long footstalks, but those on the stem are without footstalks, and placedalternate. The flowers are producedin terminal spikes, tinged of a reddish colour. The seeds are single, andof a triangular shape. VIRTUES. Sorrel is made by the French into soup with milk, and forms a refrigerant food, useful in phlogistic or inflammatory habits, and in the scurvy. Class V1. Heptandria, Order I. Monogynia. Essent. Gen. Cuan. Calyx monophyllous, five-toothed, ventricose; Corolla five-petalled, unequally coloured, inserted on the calyx, Spec. Cuar. Leaves composed of seven large lobes. ae DESCRIPTION. Tus beautiful tree grows to a great height. The leaves are large, digitated, cut into seven divisions, which are long, serrated, ribbed, of a pale green colour, and proceed from a.common centre attached to a Jong footstalk. ‘The flowers terminate the branchesin large conical spikes.’ The capsule is round, tough, fleshy, beset with spines, divided into three valves, and contain two or three roundish seeds of a shining browncolour. HISTORY. Though the castanea was well known to the ancients, yet Matthiolus seems to be the first author who describes the horse chestnut, which was brought into Europe about the middle of the sixteenth century, and was so scarce in the time of Clusiue |