Aesculus hippocastanum horse chestnut
Horse chestnuts originate in a small area of southeast Europe, but have long been planted in the UK as ornamental trees in parks, large gardens and on village greens, because of their attractive, large, palm-shaped leaves and beautiful displays of pink and white, candle-like flowers in spring. In autumn, of course, they also produce conkers, non-edible nuts that are nonetheless well loved for their potential to be hung on strings, turned into shiny, brown weapons and sent into battle against other conkers. They are big and handsome trees with a spreading habit, but unfortunately in recent years horse chestnuts have been attacked by the leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella, and from July onwards dry crispy patches start to appear on the leaves, which turn dead looking long before autumn. This threatens their existence as ornamental trees, and we may sadly be seeing fewer of them as the years go by.
1 Bark
The bark is smooth and pinkish-grey when the tree is young. As the tree ages, the bark becomes greyish-green and more scaly, with large, smooth flakes.
2 Leaf
Leaves are large and palm-shaped with between five and seven leaflets, each narrow at the base and becoming broad and rounded towards the tip.
3 Winter bud
Buds are arranged in pairs down the stem, with each pair set at an angle of 90 degrees to the previous pair. Look for horseshoe-shaped leaf scars, complete with nail holes.
4 Flower
Big, dramatic, pink and white ‘candles’ of flowers are produced all over the tree in May.
5 Silhouette
Grows up to 39m with a domed crown. On older trees, the lower branches often sweep down and curl upwards at the tips.