ÆSCULUS TURBINATA, Japanese Horse-Chestnut
- Æsculus turbinata, Blume, Rumphia, iii. 195 (1847); André, Revue Horticole, 1888, p. 496, figs. 120-124; Bean, Gard. Chron. 1897, xxil. 156, and 1902, xxxi. 187, fig. 58; Shirasawa, Icon. Essences Forestières du Japon, text 113, t. 71, ff. 16–28.
- Æsculus chinensis, Masters (non Bunge), Gard. Chron. 1889, v. 716. fig. 116.
A tree attaining in Japan, according to Shirasawa, 100 feet in height and 20 feet in girth of stem. Bark thick and scaly. Leaves resembling those of the common horse-chestnut, but much larger, mainly differing in the serration, which is finely crenate. Leaflets five to seven, sessile, obovate-cuneate, occasionally as much as 15 inches long, abruptly acuminate, pubescent beneath. The terminal leaflet has fifteen to twenty-two pairs of nerves. Petiole remaining pubescent towards the tip. Panicles 6 to 10 inches long, dense, somewhat narrow. Flowers yellowish-white, smaller than those of Æsculus Hippocastanum. Fruit slightly pear-shaped, 1½ to 2 inches in diameter, four to five on a verrucose rhachis, brown, warty, without spines; valves three, thick; seeds usually two.
Identification
In summer only liable to be confused with the European species, from which it is distinguished by the character of the serration of the leaflets. In winter the twigs closely resemble those of that species, but are not so stout; they are similarly pubescent towards the tip, and are marked with smaller but similar five to seven dotted leaf-scars. Buds smaller, equally viscid, the scales, however, not being uniform in colour, but partly light chestnut brown and partly dark brown. Pith large, irregularly circular in cross-section, and yellowish in tint.
Distribution
The tree is known in Japan as Tochinoki, and is common in the forests at 1500 to 5500 feet elevation in the mountains of the main island, descending to lower levels in Yezo. It is recorded by Debeaux, Fl. Shanghai, 22, from the provinces of Kiangsu and Chekiang; but no one else has seen the tree in China, and Debeaux's identification is probably incorrect.
The exact date of the introduction of the tree into Europe is uncertain, but it is supposed to be about thirty years ago. It has often passed under the name of Æsculus chinensis, an entirely different species. It first produced fruit in 1888 in the arboretum at Segrez in France. It flowered in 1901 at Coombe Wood. As only small trees are known to exist in England, the hardiness of the tree and its suitability for garden decoration are as yet unproved; but at Tortworth it is growing vigorously, and has ripened its buds well whilst still quite small;
