Pavia
(named in honour of Peter Paiv, a Dutch botanist, professor at Leyden in the seventeenth century). Buckeye; Smooth-fruited Horse Chestnut. ORD. Sapindaceae. A small genus of hardy, deciduous trees and shrubs, included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Aesculus. Calyx tubular; petals four, erect, narrow; stamens straight. Capsules unarmed. Leaves petiolulate. For culture, see AEsculus.
P. alba (white).* fl. white, disposed in a very long raceme; stamens six or seven, three times as long as the corolla; claws of the nearly similar petals longer than the obconical calyx. April and May. l. composed of five to seven oval-obovate leaflets, tomentose beneath. h. 3ft. to 9ft. North America, 1820.Shrub, with stoloniferous roots. SYNS. P. macrostachya, Aesculus macrostachya (B.M. 2118). AE. parviflora.
P. californica (Californian).* fl. white or pale rose, highly fragrant, covering the dense head of the tree; stamens five to seven; anthers orange-coloured. May. l., leaflets smooth, oblong-lanceolate, acute, obtuse at base, serrulate, with slender petiolules. California. A very handsome species; usually a shrub, 12ft. to 15ft., sometimes a tree, 40ft. high, with a dense head, much more in diameter.
P. discolor (discoloured). A synonym of P. flava purpurascens. P. flava (yellow).* Sweet Buckeye. fl. pale yellow; stamens included within the four-petaled corolla. May. l. on pubescent petioles, which are rather flat above; leaflets five or seven, elliptic-oblong, acute at both ends, pubescent beneath and on the nerves above. h. 20ft. North America, 1764. A large tree or shrub. (B. R. 1009, under name of Aesculus neglecta.) P. f. purpurascens (purplish). fl. tinged with red or purple. SYNS. P. discolor, P. hybrida. (B. R. 310, under name of Aesculus discolor.) P. hybrida (hybrid). A synonym of P. flava purpurascens. P. macrostachya (large-spiked). A synonym of P. alba. P. rubra (red). Red Buckeye. fl. bright red, disposed in an oblong panicle; stamens shorter than the corolla. May. l., leaflets five, elliptic-oblong, acute at both ends, and, as well as the petioles, glabrous, slightly pilose in the axils of the nerves beneath. h. 10ft. North America, 1711. Shrub or small tree. SYN. Aesculus Pavia. (B.R. 993; W. D. B. 120, 1643.) Of this, there are three varieties: humilis, 6ft. high; pendula, with pendulous branches; and laciniata, with deeply cut leaves.
