Aesculus hippocastanum, L.

1. A. hippocastanum L. , Sp. Pl. 344 (1753) View Cited Treatment .

Tree up to 25 m. Buds up to 3 - 5 cm, resinous, viscid. Leaflets 5-7, 8-25 cm, obovate, cuneate, usually acuminate, irregularly crenate-serrate, glabrous above, tomentose or glabrescent beneath. Panicle 15-30 cm, cylindrical. Petals c. 1 cm, white with yellow to pink spot at base. Fruit c. 6 cm in diameter, spiny. Seeds 2-4 cm, brown, with a large white hilum. Mountain woods. • C. part of the Balkan peninsula; one station in E. Bulgaria. Extensively plantedfor ornament and as a shade tree in most of Europe except the extreme north, and locally for timber; locally naturalized in thickets and hedges in W. & C. Europe. Al Bu Gr Ju [Au Br Cz Ga Ge Hb He].

A. carnea Hayne in Guimpel, Otto & Hayne, Abbild. Fremd. Holzart. 25 (1825) ( A. rubicunda Loisel. ), is also often planted. It is like 1 but is usually smaller in all its parts, with the buds not viscid, the petals pink or red and the fruit almost smooth. It is an allopolyploid of garden origin derived from A. hippocastanum and A. pavia L. , a native of E. North America.