Aesculus hippocastanum L.
horse chestnut
Tree 10-15-(c. 25) m tall. Twigs stout, glabrous with prominent lf scars and large reddish brown, very viscid buds. Leaflets 5-7, sessile; central leaflets mostly 15-35 × 6-14 cm (basal leaflets smaller), obovate, somewhat brown-floccose below when young, later almost glabrous except for axillary tufts of hair beneath, irregularly crenate-serrate; base attenuate; apex cuspidate. Panicles to c. 30 cm high, broad-cylindric; peduncles and pedicels glabrous or hairy. Calyx 4-6 mm long, puberulent inside, scarious. Petals 1-1.7 cm long including narrow claw; limb ± broad-oblong, white with yellow to red spot near base, very undulate and recurved. Filaments slender, curving downwards, hairy. Capsule to 6 cm diam., subglobose, echinate. Seeds 1-2, 3-5 cm diam., usually ± subglobose, often somewhat asymmetric, dark shining brown with prominent, elongated, white hilum.
S.: Canterbury, occasional, but nowhere fully naturalised.
Probably the Balkans 1983
Around old shrubberies, plantations and windbreaks, in shady sites.
FL Oct-Nov.
Horse chestnut is very commonly cultivated in both North and South Is, especially in cooler areas. The abundance of large, fertile seeds, "conkers", is a feature, and seedlings are common around parent trees. A fertile hybrid, A. × carnea Hayne, is commonly cultivated in N.Z., but spontaneous trees have not been reported. It has scarcely viscid buds, deep pink fls and the capsules have few prickles.
