Red Horse-chestnut

Red Horse-chestnut (Aesculus carnea)

Horse-chestnut family Hippocastanaceae

Origin: Garden hybrid

Description: Tree up to 30m high, with wide-spreading branches. Twigs reddish-brown, with horseshoe-shaped leaf scars. Buds large, not sticky. Leaves opposite, palmate, with 5 drooping leaflets. Leaflets 10-25cm long, ovate but widest above the middle, toothed. Flower spikes conical, up to 20cm long. Flowers 20mm across, with 4 to 5 frilly, recurved petals, the lower two larger than the others, red or pink with yellow blotches. Fruits 6cm across, the thick, green husk more or less smooth, containing several shiny brown seeds.

Comments: A hybrid between the European Horse-chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and the North American Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia). The distinctly drooping leaflets give the false impression that the tree is suffering from lack of water.

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• Horse-chestnut