The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland/Volume 2/Aesculus

by Henry John Elwes and Augustine Henry

 

ÆSCULUS

 

Æsculus, Linnæus, Gen. Pl. 109 (1737); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. i. 398 (1862).

Pavia, Boerhave, ex Miller, Gard. Dict. ed. 6 (1752).

 

Deciduous trees and shrubs, belonging to the natural order Sapindaceæ, some authorities, however, making the genus the type of a distinct order Hippocastaneæ. Leaves in opposite decussate pairs, without stipules, stalked, digitately compound; leaflets five to nine, serrate in margin, pinnately veined. Branchlets stout, terete, with large triangular leaf-scars. Buds large, of numerous decussately opposite scales which are homologous with leaf-bases, the outer deciduous, dry or resinous, the inner accrescent and often brightly coloured.

Flowers in large terminal racemes or panicles, appearing later than the leaves, of two kinds, hermaphrodite and staminate, on the same plant; placed in the axils of minute caducous bracts on stout jointed pedicels. Calyx imbricate in bud, five- or two-lobed, the lobes unequal, united with an hypogynous annular disc in the hermaphrodite flowers. Petals four to five, imbricate in bud, alternate with the calyx lobes and inserted on the disc. Stamens five to eight, usually seven, inserted on the inner margin of the disc, unequal in length; filaments filiform; anthers two-celled, sometimes glandular at the apex. Ovary three-celled, rudimentary in the staminate flowers, each cell containing two ovules. Style slender, elongated, generally curved. Fruit a capsule; prickly, roughened, or smooth; coriaceous; three-celled, three-seeded, and three-valved, or by abortion one- to two-celled and one- to two-seeded, the remains of the abortive cells and seeds usually remaining visible. Seeds without albumen, rounded or flattened by mutual pressure; seed-coat brown and coriaceous, marked by a large whitish hilum. Cotyledons thick and fleshy, unequal, cohering together by their contiguous faces, remaining in the seed-coat during germination.

About twelve species of Æsculus^[1] are known to occur in the wild state. They are natives of North America, Europe, and Asia. The genus was formerly divided into two sections, Pavia, with smooth fruit, and Hippocastanum, with spiny fruit; but this division is not a natural one. The following synopsis groups the species under sections, which are more natural, being dependent on the characters of the flowers and buds:—

I. Hippocastanum. Buds viscid. Calyx irregularly campanulate, four- to fivelobed. Petals four or five, claws not longer than the calyx; stamens exserted. This section includes all the old-world species.

1. Æsculus Hippocastanum, Linnæus. Greece.

2. Æsculus indica, Colebrooke. Afghanistan, north-western Himalaya.

3. Æsculus punduana, Wallich, List 1189 (1828). Sikkim, western Duars, Khasia Hills, Upper Burma, Tenasserim, Siam, Tonking. Large tree. Leaflets six to seven, very large, thinly coriaceous, stalked, acuminate, serrate. Panicles 12 to 15 inches or more, flowers white or yellow. Fruit brown, smooth.

Not introduced and not likely to be hardy.

4. Æsculus chinensis, Bunge, Enum. Pl. Chin. Bor. 10 (1835). Northern and Central China. A tree, 40 to 50 feet high. Leaflets five to seven, large, stalked, obovate-oblong, rounded at the base, abruptly acuminate at the apex, finely serrate, shining above, glabrescent below except for pubescence along the nerves, petioles pubescent. Panicles, 8 inches long, pubescent. Flowers small, white; sepals shortly and unequally five-lobed, pubescent. Petals four, minute. Filaments glabrous. Fruit^[2] pear-shaped or globular, small (¾ inch diameter), one-celled, three-valved, brown, covered with warts, not spiny.

This species has been much confused with the next, from which it differs in every way. The flowers, though small, are numerous in the large panicle, and the foliage is very handsome. It is common enough in the mountains of central China, in Shansi, and in the hills to the west of Peking; and when introduced is likely to prove hardy in England.

5. Æsculus turbinata, Blume. Japan.

 

II. Pavia. Buds not resinous. Calyx tubular, five-toothed. Petals four, yellow or scarlet.

6. Æsculus glabra, Willdenow. North America.

7. Æsculus octandra, Marshall. North America.

8. Æsculus Pavia, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 344 (1753); Bot. Reg. t. 993 (1826). Middle United States. A shrub. Leaves with slender grooved petioles, the edges of the grooves jagged. Leaflets five, obovate, acute at the base, acuminate at the apex, finely serrate without cilia, slightly pubescent beneath. Flowers in loose panicles, 4 to 7 inches long. Petals red, meeting at the tips; upper pair longer, with claws about three times as long as the small spathulate limb; lateral pair shorter, with claws as long as the calyx, and rounded limb equalling the claw in length; margin of petals beset with minute dark glands. Stamens as long as the upper pair of petals. Fruit brown, without spines.

This species, though only a shrub, is mentioned here at some length, as it closely resembles Æsculus octandra, and moreover enters into such important hybrids as Æsculus carnea, versicolor, etc. All its hybrids may be recognised by the red colour of the flowers and the glandular margin of the petals. It is readily distinguished from Æsculus octandra by its smaller leaves and peculiar petioles. In winter it shows the following characters:—Twigs slender, glabrous, shining, with numerous lenticels. Leaf-scars obovate or crescentic on slightly prominent cushions, with three groups of bundle-dots; opposite scars joined by a linear ridge. Terminal buds long oval or fusiform, pointed; scales numerous, the upper rounded, the lower pointed at the apex and keeled on the back, minutely ciliate in margin. Pith wide, circular, green.

9. Æsculus austrina, Small, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 1901, xxviii. 359; Sargent, Man. Trees N. America, 647 (1905); Æsculus Pavia, β discolor, Torrey and Gray, Fl. N. Amer. i, 252 (1838), in part. A small tree, attaining 30 feet in height, occurring in Tennessee, S. Missouri, E. Texas, and north-western Alabama. This resembles the last species. The leaflets, however, are usually more irregularly but finely serrate, and pale tomentose beneath. Panicles pubescent, 6 to 8 inches long. Petals bright red, meeting at the tips, unequal, oblong-obovate, rounded at the apex, glandular, those of the upper pair about half as wide as those of the lateral pair, with claws much longer than the calyx. Stamens longer than the petals. Fruit brown, slightly pitted. Not introduced.

 

III. Macrothyrsus. Buds not viscid. Calyx five-toothed. Petals four to five, white, claws longer than the calyx. Stamens exserted, very long.

10. Æsculus parviflora, Walter, Flora Caroliniana, 128 (1788). South-eastern North America. A shrub. Leaflets five to seven, elliptical or oblong-ovate, densely grey-tomentose beneath, finely serrate. Panicles erect, 8 to 10 inches long, slender, narrow. Flowers white, faintly tinged with pink. The long and thread-like stamens are pinkish white and very conspicuous.

This is a valuable shrub, as it flowers late, in July or August, some five or six weeks later than any of the other species except californica. Occasionally it forms a short single trunk, but generally it sends up a crowd of stems from the ground. It is figured in Gard. Chron. 1877, viii. fig. 129; and is often known in gardens as Pavia macrostachya, Loiseleur, or Æsculus macrostachya, Michaux. See Bot. Mag. t. 2118 (1820), where it is stated that the species was introduced by Mr. John Fraser in 1785. Canon Ellacombe reported in 1877^[3] that he had at Bitton a specimen, which was at least forty years old, but that it remained a bush, not exceeding 8 or 10 feet in height.

 

IV. Calothyrsus. Buds viscid. Calyx two-lipped or five-lobed. Petals four, pink or white, claws not longer than the calyx. Stamens exserted.

11. Æsculus californica, Nuttall. California.

12. Æsculus Parryi, A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. xvii. 200 (1881); Sargent, Garden and Forest, 1890, p. 356, fig. 47. Lower California. A small shrub, resembling the preceding species; but differing in the five-lobed calyx, and in the leaflets, which are small, obovate and hoary pubescent beneath. It has not been introduced.

V. Hybrids. The most important is Æsculus carnea, Hayne, which is a cross between the common horse-chestnut and A. Pavia. This is described fully below. Æsculus plantierensis, André, a supposed hybrid between Æsculus carnea and Æsculus Hippocastanum, will be mentioned under the former species. Æsculus versicolor, Dippel, a hybrid between Æsculus Pavia and Æsculus octandra, will be treated under the latter species.

 

The following key to the species in cultivation is based on the characters of the leaves and buds. In Plate 61 the leaves of all these species are shown; and in Plate 62 are represented the twigs and buds of six species, viz., Hippocastanum, carnea, indica, glabra, octandra, and californica:—

A. Leaflets sessile or nearly so; buds very viscid.

1. Æsculus Hippocastanum.

Petioles glabrescent. Leaflets obtusely and irregularly serrate.

2. Æsculus turbinata.

Petioles pubescent, especially towards their tips. Leaflets regularly and crenately serrate.

B. Leaflets stalked.

* Buds viscid.

3. Æsculus indica.

Leaflets finely and sharply serrate, pale beneath. Buds very viscid.

4. Æsculus carnea.

Leaflets obtusely and irregularly serrate. Buds only slightly viscid, the brown scales having a dark-coloured margin.

5. Æsculus californica.

Leaflets shallowly and crenately serrate, pale beneath. Buds viscid, glistening with white resin.

** Buds not viscid.

6. Æsculus parviflora.

Leaflets densely grey-tomentose beneath, finely serrate in margin. Buds minutely pubescent.

7. Æsculus octandra.

Leaflets pubescent beneath, broadly lanceolate, shortly acuminate, with twenty or more pairs of nerves in the terminal leaflet; margin finely serrate but not usually ciliate. Petioles without jagged marginal ridges.

8. Æsculus glabra.

Leaflets glabrous beneath, except for a slight pubescence along the midrib and tufts in the axils, long-acuminate, with about fifteen pairs of nerves in the terminal leaflet, finely serrate with ciliate tufts in the bases of the serrations. Petioles with smooth marginal ridges.

9. Æsculus Pavia.

Leaflets slightly pubescent beneath, narrowly lanceolate, finely serrate but not ciliate in margin. Petioles flattened on the upper side, with marginal sharp ridges, usually jagged.

 

 

ÆSCULUS HIPPOCASTANUM, Common Horse-Chestnut

 

Æsculus Hippocastanum, Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 344 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 462, iv. 2543 (1838); Gard. Chron. 1881, xvi. 556, figs. 103, 104.

 

A large tree, attaining in England a height of over 100 feet and a girth of 15 or even 20 feet. Bark smooth and dark brown in young trees, becoming greyish and fissured longitudinally in old trees, at the same time scaling off in thin plates. Leaves palmately compound, digitate, on a long stalk widened at its insertion. Leaflets five to seven, sessile, obovate, cuneate at the base, abruptly acuminate at the apex, unequally and coarsely serrate; green above; beneath pale, tomentose at first, but ultimately glabrous, except for small tufts of hairs in the axils of the veins and a few scattered hairs over the surface; middle leaflet the largest, with twenty-four or more pairs of nerves, lower pair smallest; venation pinnate; petiole glabrous. The leaflets as they emerge from the bud are at first erect, but soon bend downwards on their stalks. When nearly full grown they rise up and become horizontal. In autumn they turn yellow or brownish and fall early, each leaflet disarticulating separately from the petiole.

Flowers in large upright pyramidal panicles, the primary branches of which are racemose, the lateral branches cymose. Upper flowers staminate and opening first; lower flowers hermaphrodite. Calyx greenish, five-toothed. Petals four to five, crumpled at the edge, white, with yellow spots at the base, which ultimately become pink. Stamens seven, longer than the petals, the filaments bent down when the flower opens and the stigma protrudes, later moving up on a level with the style. Fruits few on each panicle, large, globular, green, with stout, thick conical spines, three-valved, usually one-seeded, occasionally two- to three-seeded. Seed large, shining-brown, with a broad whitish hilum. Cotyledons two, large, fleshy, distinct below, blended into one mass above.

 

Seedling^[4]

The cotyledons are large and fleshy and remain in the seed, which frequently germinates on the surface of the soil or only slightly buried beneath it. The cotyledons have long petioles (¾–1 inch), which are broad and flattened, with a concavity on their inner surface. The caulicle, very variable in length (1 to 4 inches), is stout, brownish, pubescent, and ends in a stout tap-root, which gives off numerous branching fibres. The young stem is stout, terete, brownish, striated and marked with numerous lenticels, puberulent or glabrous; it has no scale-leaves, differing in this respect from the young stem of the oak. In other respects the germination of the oak and of the horse-chestnut are almost identical. At a varying height above the cotyledons the first pair of true leaves are produced, which are opposite, compound, digitately five-foliolate, and closely resemble the adult foliage except that they are smaller in size. Successive pairs of similar leaves follow on the stem, each pair being placed decussately with reference to the pair immediately below it.

 

Abnormal Flowering

The horse-chestnut sometimes produces a second crop of flowers in autumn, which appear in much smaller panicles than those of spring. This is due to the premature fall of the leaves in July or August, usually following an excessively dry season. The buds are stimulated to premature energy and put forth young leaf-shoots, which are terminated by flowers. This phenomenon, which is equivalent to an anticipation of the opening of the buds by several months, as they would normally open in the following spring, is frequently observed in the trees planted in the boulevards of Paris.^[5] In the dry season of 1884, a single tree at Kew produced small panicles of flowers in September, after previously shedding nearly all its leaves. In the following year it produced a few panicles of the ordinary size. At Hythe,^[6] near Southampton, a horse-chestnut is reported to have bloomed and fruited three times in 1868, once in spring, again after the rain which succeeded the long drought, and a third time in September.

 

Identification

In summer the common horse-chestnut is unmistakable. The only other species with large sessile leaflets, Æsculus turbinata, is easily distinguished by their regular crenate serration. In winter the twigs and buds show the following characters:—Twigs stout, brown, glabrous or minutely pubescent towards the tip; lenticels numerous. The large opposite leaf scars, flat on the twigs with no prominent cushion, are joined by a linear ridge, and vary in shape, the larger being obovate with seven bundle-dots, the smaller semicircular or crescentic with usually only five dots. Buds very viscid, larger than in the other cultivated species; the terminal much exceeding the lateral buds in size, occasionally absent, and replaced by the saddle-shaped scar of the previous year's inflorescence; scales imbricate, the external ones in four vertical ranks, rounded at the apex, glabrous, not ciliate, dark red-brown. The buds contain the next year's shoot in an advanced state of development, flowers being visible in them in October. The scales are morphologically equivalent to leaf-bases. In the interior of the bud, scales are observable with traces of leaf-blades, which gradually pass into the true leaves, visible in the upper part of the bud.

 

Varieties

1. Var. flore pleno, Lemaire, Illust. Horticole, 1855, ii. t. 50. A variety with double flowers, the pistil even in some cases becoming petaloid. Mr. A.M. Baumann discovered in 1822, near Geneva, a horse-chestnut tree, of which a single branch bore double flowers; and from this branch the variety was propagated at the Bollweiler nursery in Alsace.^[7] The flowers last longer than those of the single kind,^[8] and no fruits are formed, which renders it useful as a tree in streets, where the fall of fruits is an inconvenience. This variety is very hardy, and resisted well the severe winter of 1879–80 in France.^[9]

2. Var. laciniata (var. asplenifolia, var. incisa). Leaflets cut up into narrow lobes. According to Beissner^[10] this variety has been in cultivation for over forty years; and a form of it was found by Herr Henkel of Darmstadt, which keeps its foliage much longer than the typical form; but this is not the case in some localities.

3. Var. crispa. Leaves short-stalked, with broad leaflets. Tree compact in habit.

4. Var. pyramidalis. Upright in habit.

5. Var. umbraculifera. Crown densely branched, and globular in outline.

6. Var. tortuosa. Branches bent and twisted.

7, Var. Memmingeri. Leaves yellowish in colour, looking as if powdered with sulphur.

8. Var. aureo-variegata. Leaves variegated with yellow.

Several other varieties of slight interest, which do not seem to be in cultivation in this country, are mentioned by Schelle.^[11]

 

Distribution and History

The horse-chestnut occurs wild in the mountains of northern Greece. Halácsy,^[12] the latest authority, gives many localities in Phthiotis, Eurytania, Thessaly, and Epirus; but states that it is not found wild on Mount Pelion or in Crete. Baldacci,^[13] in 1897, found the tree growing wild on almost inaccessible precipices below the lower limit of the coniferous belt near Syrakou in the district of Janina in Albania.

The native country of the tree was long a matter of doubt; but the whole question was satisfactorily elucidated by Heldreich^[14] in a paper, from which we extract most of the following account. Linnæus considered the habitat of the tree to be northern Asia, and De Candolle thought that it came from northern India. The tree is, however, not known wild in India, where it is replaced by Æsculus indica. Boissier^[15] states that it is recorded from Greece by Sibthorp, from Imeritia (Caucasus) by Eichwald, and from Persia by various authors. It is, however, unknown in the wild state in Persia; and Radde^[16] mentions it only as a planted tree in the Caucasus. All the evidence goes to show that it is confined to northern Greece and Albania.

Heldreich states that the horse-chestnut was first found wild in Greece by Dr. Hawkins.^[17] In his own travels in Greece in 1897 he observed it in many stations, all lying in the lower fir region, between 3000 and 4000 feet altitude, where it grows in shaded moist gulleys, in company with alder, walnut, plane, ash, several oaks, Ostrya carpinifolia and Abies Apollinis. These stations, situated in remote uninhabited spots, establish the fact that the tree is really wild. Plants introduced into Greece by the Turks are always found in the neighbourhood of towns. Whether the tree was known to the ancient Greeks is doubtful.

The horse-chestnut was first mentioned^[18] by the Flemish doctor Quakleben, who was attached to the embassy of Archduke Ferdinand I. at Constantinople,—in a letter to Matthiolus in 1557. The latter received a fruit-bearing branch, and published the first description^[19] of the tree as Castanea equina, because the fruits were known to the Turks as At-Kastane (horse-chestnut), being useful as a drug for horses suffering from broken wind or a cough.

The tree was introduced into western Europe from Constantinople, the first tree being raised by Clusius at Vienna from seeds sent by the Imperial Ambassador, D. Von Ungnad, in 1576. This tree quickly grew, and was mentioned by Clusius^[20] in 1601.

The horse-chestnut was introduced into France^[21] in 1615 by Bachelier, who brought the seeds from Constantinople. Gerard mentions it in his Herbal of 1579, p. 1254, as a tree growing "in Italy and sundry places of the eastern countries"; and in Johnson's edition of this work, published in 1633, the tree was stated to be growing in Tradescant's garden at South Lambeth. It was probably introduced into England about the same time as into France. (A.H.)

 

Cultivation

No tree is easier to raise from seed than the horse-chestnut. Its large fleshy fruit are so little hurt by frost and damp that they germinate freely where they fall, and do not seem to be eaten by mice like acorns and beech-mast.

Seeds which have been exposed all winter germinate more readily in spring than those which have been kept dry, and should be sown early and covered with about two inches of soil.

Though it is advised by French writers that the extremity of the radicle should be pinched off before sowing in order to prevent a strong tap-root from forming, as is done in the case of walnuts and chestnuts, I have not observed that they suffer from removal if this is not done; and if transplanted at one or at latest two years after sowing there are abundance of fibrous roots which make the tree an easy one to move, even when five or six feet high. As the tree is liable to form large side branches, the buds should be rubbed off the stem early in order to form a clean trunk, though it bears pruning well as a young tree.

Though somewhat liable to suffer from cold winds and spring frost, which injure the foliage and flowers, the tree is hardier in this respect than many of our native trees, though coming from a warm southern country.

As regards the chemical nature of the soil it is quite indifferent, for though it grows faster on a good loam and does not come to perfection on sandy soil, it attains a large size on dry, rocky, calcareous soils, and even at an elevation of 800 feet and upwards resists wind better than many trees. I have seldom seen horse-chestnuts blown down, though large heavy branches are often torn off by violent winds.

As an ornamental flowering tree for parks, lawns, and avenues it has no superior, though on account of its branching habit it requires considerable attention in order to form tall shapely trees. Its principal defect is the tendency of the leaves to become brown and ragged early in the autumn, but they fall quickly, and being easily removed make less litter than the leaves of the beech, oak, or sycamore.

The large branches when allowed to rest on the ground in damp situations frequently take root and become naturally layered, the best instance of this that I have seen being at Mottisfont Abbey, Hants.

For town planting, on account of its beautiful flowers and dense shade during the hottest months, the horse-chestnut is perhaps, next to the plane, one of the best trees we have, and does not seem to suffer much from smoke. In parks it is valuable for its fruit, which are so much liked by deer that they are eaten as fast as they fall, and would perhaps be worth collecting for winter food.

The extraordinary hardiness of this southern tree is proved by the fact that it will grow to a large size as far north as Trondhjem in Norway, lat. 63° 26', a tree figured by Schubeler near this place being 37 feet by 8 feet 9 inches. Another in the Botanic Garden at Christiania, which is considered the largest in Norway, measured in 1861, 16.62 metres by 2.45 metres, and when I saw it in 1903 had increased to no less than 28 metres high by 3 in girth, though it has been exposed to as low a temperature as −18° to −20° Réaumur.

As regards the age which the horse-chestnut attains we have few exact records, but it does not seem a very long-lived tree. J. Smith states^[22] that an avenue running south-east from the front of Broadlands House, near Romsey, Hants, was planted in 1735; but in 1887 only two trees remained, which were 11 feet and 12 feet 4 inches in girth.

 

Remarkable Trees

There are so many fine trees in almost every part of Great Britain that I need not go into great detail as to their dimensions, but though it is possible that in Bushy Park, or other places near London, taller trees exist, I have only at

 

Plate 63: Horse chestnut at Colesborne

Plate 63.

HORSE CHESTNUT AT COLESBORNE

 

Petworth measured one which exceeds in height the group of three which grow near my own house at Colesborne, of which I give an illustration (Plate 63). The height of these as measured in 1902 by Sir Hugh Beevor and myself was 105 feet, and the girth of the largest 11 feet. They grow in a sheltered situation, on damp, cold soil. One of these trees being inclined to split at the base, owing to the great weight and length of one of its principal limbs, was chained up many years ago, and though the iron band which was put round it has become buried in the wood the limb has not broken off.

At Dynevor Castle, Carmarthenshire, the seat of Lord Dynevor, where the park contains a greater number of fine trees than any I have seen in South Wales, there is a very large tree which the Hon. W. Rice measured in 1906 and found to be 109 feet by 17 feet 9 inches. For height and girth combined this seems to be the largest tree in Great Britain.

The tallest tree I have seen is in a grove of beech, chestnut, oak, and silver fir, which grows near the house at Petworth Park, the seat of Lord Leconfield in Sussex, on a deep greensand formation. This tree, though forked at six feet from the ground, has been drawn up to a great height by the trees surrounding it, and though difficult to measure exactly, probably exceeds 115, and may be 120 feet. The two stems are 9 feet 8 inches and 8 feet respectively in girth.

In Bushy Park most of the horse-chestnuts are past their prime; many of the old trees are dead and have been replaced by young ones. The largest, seen in 1906, was growing near the gate; it had a bole of 20 feet giving off four great stems, and measured 100 feet high by 16 feet 5 inches in girth. Another near the pond was 101 feet by 16 feet 1 inch.

At Birchanger Place, near Bishop Stortford, the seat of T. Harrison, Esq., there is one of the largest and finest trees in England, which measures about 80 feet by 20 feet, with a bole about 15 feet high and a spread of 32 yards; a beautiful photograph was taken in 1864 when the tree was in flower, but it is now partially decayed on the north side, and has lost some large branches.

At West Dean Park, Sussex, the seat of W.D. James, Esq., there is a large tree about 70 feet by 16 feet, with branches spreading over an area no less than 36 yards in diameter.

At Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the seat of John Arkwright, Esq., there is a very fine tree growing on deep alluvial soil in the big meadow south of the house. Measured by T. Hogg in 1881^[23] it was 93 feet by 16 feet 6 inches. When I saw it in 1905 it had increased about three feet in height and was 18 feet 7 inches in girth, and still handsome and vigorous.

The largest trees I have seen as regards girth and spread of branches are in Ashridge Park, on a bank near the lodge on the Berkhampstead road. The largest of these is about 80 feet high and 20 feet in girth, with extremely wide-spreading branches, and there are several others of 16 to 17 feet girth in the row. These trees are growing on a dry, flinty, calcareous loam.

There is a fine tree at Syon, which in 1905 was 93 feet high by 15 feet 4 inches in girth; and at Broom House, Fulham, there is a tree 95 feet high.

In the courtyard at Burleigh, near Stamford, the seat of the Marquess of Exeter, there is a large and very beautiful tree, figured by Strutt, plate 37, which was in 1822 60 feet high by to feet in girth, with a spread of 61 feet diameter. When I saw it in 1903 it was still in perfect health, and was about 80 feet by 12 feet 6 inches. It had remarkably spiny fruit, and its trunk was covered with small twigs.

At Trebartha Hall, near Launceston in Cornwall, Mr. Enys reports in 1904 a tree 15 feet 6 inches in girth, with an estimated height of 70 feet.

In Scotland the horse-chestnut seems as much at home as in England, and thrives in most places as far north as Gordon Castle, where there is a tree, measured in 1881 by Mr. Webster, 65 feet high by 13 feet 4 inches in girth, and 274 feet in circumference of its branches.

At Newton Don, Kelso, the seat of Mr. C.B. Balfour, there is a tree which was in 1906, 13½ feet in girth with a spread of branches of 165 feet in circumference.

In Perthshire there is a very beautiful tree, remarkable for its weeping habit, in the park at Dunkeld, which measures 80 feet in height by 17 feet 6 inches in girth (Plate 64). At Kilkerran, Ayrshire, Mr. J. Renwick has measured a fine tree 84 feet high by 14 feet in girth, with a bole 22 feet high. At Pollok, near Glasgow, a tree measured, in 1904, 63 feet high by 13 feet 6 inches girth at 2½ feet from the ground, with a bole of 5 feet, giving off four great stems.

None of these are equal to a tree in a group of seven standing at the west end of Moncreiffe House in Perthshire, which Hunter^[24] describes as the largest in Scotland, and which then measured 19 feet in girth at five feet from the ground. At ten feet it divides into three great limbs, one of which has become firmly rooted in the ground, and extends so far from the trunk that the total spread of the tree is 90 feet in diameter.

The remarkable hardiness of this tree is shown by the existence of one, reported by Mr. Farquharson of Invercauld, as growing at an elevation of 1110 feet, which was supposed to be 177 years old in 1864, when it was 8 feet 7 inches in girth.^[25]

In Ireland the horse-chestnut attains a great size, the largest we know of occurring at Woodstock in Co. Kilkenny, on an island in the River Nore. One tree measured in 1904, 93 feet in height by 18 feet 1 inch in girth, and according to the careful records which have been kept of the growth of the many fine trees on this property, measured in 1825, 10 feet 2 inches in girth; in 1846, 13 feet 2 inches; in 1901, 17 feet 9 inches. Another about the same height, in a meadow near the river, measured in 1825, 11 feet in girth; in 1834, 12 feet; in 1846, 12 feet 11 inches; in 1901, 14 feet 4 inches.

 

 

Plate 64: Weeping horse chestnut at Dunkeld

Plate 64.

WEEPING HORSE CHESTNUT AT DUNKELD

 

 

Timber

The wood of the horse-chestnut is one of the poorest and least valuable we have, on account of its softness and want of strength and durability. Though it has a fine close and even grain, white or yellowish-white colour, and is not liable to twist or warp so much as most woods, it does not cut cleanly, decays rapidly, and is only used as a rule for such purposes as cheap packing-cases and linings.

It burns so badly that it is of little use as firewood, and though occasionally cut into veneers or used as a cheap substitute for sycamore, poplar, and lime, in making dairy utensils, platters, and brush backs, it cannot be said to have a regular market. From 4d. to 8d. a foot is about the usual value in most parts of England, though Webster says that it was worth a shilling in Banffshire some years ago.

Holtzapffel says that it is one of the white woods of the Tunbridge turner, a useful wood for brush backs and turnery, preferable to holly for large varnished and painted works on account of its great size.

I am not aware whether it has been tried for pulp-making, but it would seem to be a suitable wood for that purpose on account of its softness, and could, if required, be produced in quantity at a low price. (H.J.E.)

 

ÆSCULUS CARNEA, Red Horst-Chestnut

 

Æsculus carnea, Hayne, Dendrol. Flora, 43 (1822).

Æsculus rubicunda, Loiseleur, Herb. Amat. vi. t. 357 (1822); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 467 (1838); Carrière, Rev. Horticole, 1878, p. 370, coloured figure of var. Briotii.

Æsculus Hippocastanum, L. x Æsculus Pavia, L., Koch, Dendrologie, i. 507 (1869).

 

A small tree, occasionally 50 feet, but rarely exceeding 30 feet in height. Leaves resembling those of the common horse-chestnut, but darker green with an uneven surface, the leaflets being shortly stalked and more or less curved and twisted. Flowers red, showing as they open an orange-coloured blotch at the base of the petals, which afterwards becomes deep red. Petals five, standing nearly erect, their limbs not spreading horizontally at right angles to the claws, as occurs in the common horse-chestnut; edges of the petals furnished with minute glands, like those present in Æsculus Pavia. Fruits with slender prickles.

 

Identification

In winter, the species is distinguished as follows:—Twigs rather stout, grey, shortly pubescent; leaf-scars as in Æsculus Hippocastanum. Buds slightly viscid and smaller than in that species; scales brown, edged with a dry membranous dark-coloured rim. Lateral buds small, oval, pointed, arising from the twig at an acute angle.

 

 

Varieties

1. Var. Briotii. Flowers in larger panicles and more brilliantly coloured, the filaments, calyx, and style being red. Fruits never developing fully, falling soon after the flowers. This variety^[26] was obtained in 1858, by M. Briot at the State Nurseries of the Trianon, Versailles, as a seedling of Æsculus carnea.

2. Several variegated forms are known, as var. aureo-maculata and aureo-marginata. Var. alba is a form with white flowers. Var. pendula is pendulous in habit.

3. Æsculus plantierensis, André, Rev. Horticole, 1894, p. 246, is supposed to be a cross between A. carnea and the common horse-chestnut, as it is intermediate in character. This variety arose in the nursery of Messrs. Simon-Louis Fréres at Plantières-lès-Metz, from a seed of Æsculus Hippocastanum. Other intermediate forms, named by André Æsculus intermedia and Æsculus balgiana, were derived from seeds of Æsculus carnea.

 

History

Nothing is known for certain concerning the origin of Æsculus carnea. Loiseleur received the plant from Germany in 1818, and there are no earlier accounts of it. Its parentage, however, is undoubted: it possesses characters of both the supposed parents. The leaves and slightly spiny fruit are derived from the common horse-chestnut. The colour of the petals and the glands on their margins come from Æsculus Pavia. According to André^[27] the seeds when sown usually produce plants which bear whitish flowers and are of no horticultural value. The species is accordingly always propagated by grafting. Koch,^[28] however, reports that while some seedlings are like those of the common horse-chestnut, others produce smooth fruits. At Kew, according to Mr. Bean, it has come true from seed.

The largest specimen of this tree that we have seen occurs at Barton in Suffolk. It was 50 feet high in 1904, with a bole, however, of only 2 feet, girthing 7 feet 9 inches at a foot above the ground, and dividing into three stems.

It does not seem to live long or to attain any great size in England, and is often supposed to be a red-flowered form of the common horse-chestnut. (A.H.)

 

AESCULUS INDICA, Indian Horse-Chestnut

 

Æsculus indica, Colebrooke, Wallich, List 1188 (1828); Bot. Mag. t. 5117 (1859); Hiern, in Flora British India, i. 675 (1875); Bean, in Gard. Chron. 1897, xxii. 155 and 1903, xxxiii. 139, Suppl. Illust.; Collett, Flora Simla, 97 (1902); Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 193 (1902); Brandis, Indian Trees, 185, 705 (1906).

Pavia indica, Wallich, ex Jacquemont, Voyage dans l'Inde, iv. 31, t. 35 (1844).

 

A large tree, attaining in India 150 feet in height and 40 feet in girth of stem. Bark in old trees peeling off in long strips. Leaves large, glabrous, dark green above, pale, almost glaucous beneath; leaflets five to nine, stalked, obovate-lanceolate, acuminate, finely and sharply serrate, with about twenty pairs of nerves in the terminal leaflet. Panicles 12 to 15 inches long, loose, narrow, erect. Flowers large, about 1 inch long; calyx ⅓ inch long, irregularly lobed, often splitting so as to appear two-lipped. Petals four, white, of two unequal pairs; the upper pair narrow and long with a red and yellow blotch at the base, the lower pair flushed with pink. Stamens seven or eight, scarcely longer than the petals, spreading. Fruit brown, rough, without spines, irregularly ovoid, one to two inches long, containing one to three dark brown shining seeds.

 

Identification

In summer the viscid buds and the large stalked leaflets with finely serrate margins distinguish it from the other species in cultivation In winter the twigs show the following characters:—Branchlets coarse, shortly pubescent; lenticels like brown raised warts, numerous; pith circular, white; leaf-scars on slightly prominent cushions, each pair wide apart and joined by a raised linear ridge, obovate or semicircular with a raised rim and three groups of bundle-dots. Buds viscid, greenish, the lower scales only being brown; terminal buds ovoid, pointed, the two lowest scales having projecting beaks; scales not ciliate, the outermost four pubescent; lateral buds small, arising at an acute angle.

 

Distribution

It is a common tree in the north-west Himalayas from the Indus to Nepal, occurring at elevations of from 4000 to 10,000 feet, and also occurs in Afghanistan. Sir George Watt informs me that he has measured many trees 150 feet in height with trunks of enormous size, a girth of 40 feet not being uncommon. The wood is used in building and for making water-troughs, platters, vases, cups, packing-cases, and tea-boxes. The twigs and leaves are lopped for use as fodder. The fruit is given as food to cattle and goats; ground and mixed with ordinary flour, it is part of the dietary of the hill tribes. The bark of old trees is very remarkable in appearance, exfoliating in long flakes, which remain attached at their upper ends and hang downwards and outwards. (A.H.)

 

 

Cultivation

Colonel Henry Bunbury brought seeds from India in 1851, from which plants were raised by Sir Charles J.F. Bunbury^[29] at Barton in Suffolk. The large tree^[30] now flourishing on the lawn at Barton (Plate 65) is one of the original seedlings, and measured, in 1904, 66 feet high by 7 feet 9 inches in girth. Another tree in the arboretum at Barton measured 65 feet high by 7 feet 2 inches in girth; and divides into two main stems at 7 feet above the ground. This tree flowered for the first time in 1858, producing twelve panicles, being then only seven years old from seed, and 16 feet in height. It did not suffer in the least from the terrible winter of 1860, and flowered as usual in the summer following. In 1868 it ripened fruit, and four thriving plants were raised from its seed. There are no records of the tree on the lawn, which is now the finer of the two. Other trees were planted apparently at Mildenhall,^[31] which is about fifteen miles distant from Barton; but these never throve, and none remain. The soil at Mildenhall is a light loam on chalk, and probably did not suit the tree.

I saw the beautiful tree at Barton in full flower on June 24, 1905, when it did not seem to have received the least injury from the severe frosts and cold north-east winds which had occurred a month previously, and which ruined the flowers and destroyed the fruit of the common horse-chestnut in many places.

It seems incredible that this species should be so rare and have remained so little known in England, where it ought to be planted generally in the south and west. Mr. Bean says that the seeds soon lose their vitality if kept dry, and that of some scores received in ordinary paper packets from India in recent years, not one has germinated at Kew. He recommends that the seeds should be gathered as soon as ripe, and be sent packed in fairly moist soil. Mr. Walker, the gardener at Barton, informed me that it ripens seed in good years, and showed me several seedlings raised from them which appeared to grow as well as the common horse-chestnut,

The only other place except Kew, however, where we have seen it, is at Tortworth, where the Earl of Ducie planted in 1890 a few seeds which were sent to him by the late Duke of Bedford. The seedlings were planted at first in sunny places in the open, but did not thrive until moved to a sheltered dell in 1900, where they are now growing well, the best being about 12 feet high.

At Kew there are two or three small trees which have flowered a few times. It seems, therefore, that it only requires a good deep soil and a sheltered situation to succeed as well as it has done at Barton. The late Lord Morley informed me that there was a tree recently planted, but growing very well at Saltram, his place in Devonshire.

According to Jouin,^[32] this tree is quite hardy at Metz. (H.J.E.)

 

 

Plate 65: Aesculus indica at Barton

Plate 65.

ÆSCULUS INDICA AT BARTON

 

 

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; and the great size of the leaves on the young trees give it a striking and distinctive appearance.(A.H.)

In Japan I saw this tree planted in gardens and parks near Tokyo, where it does not seem to grow so large as in its native forests and in higher, colder situations. Sargent says^[33] that in the forests of the interior of Hondo, at 2000 to 3000 feet, it attains 80 to 100 feet high, with trunks 3 to 4 feet in diameter, and that these were perhaps the largest deciduous trees that he saw growing wild in the forest. It reaches its most northern point of distribution near Mororan in Hokkaido at sea-level, and I did not see it near Sapporo, in the Aomori district, or near Nikko. At a tea-house called Hideshira, near the village of Sooga on the Nakasendo road, Central Japan, I saw the largest trees of this species growing in a dense grove with Zelkova acuminata, They attained over 80 feet high, with clean trunks 40 to 50 feet long, and a girth of 14 feet.

On the Torii-toge Pass, between Wada and Yabuhara, at about 3300 feet, there were many fine trees growing by the side of the road, of one of which I give an illustration from a photograph taken for me by Masuhara of Tokyo in November (Plate 66).

 

Timber

The timber of this tree, though not highly valued in Japan on account of its softness and want of strength, is used for boat and bridge building, furniture making, house-fittings, and for the groundwork of lacquer. It often shows a waved figure, and when old assumes a pale reddish-brown colour, which makes it very ornamental. Such wood, which I procured at Aomori, has been used with good effect in my Japanese wardrobe, and takes a good polish. It is also much used for trays, and from the large burrs and swellings near the root very handsome trays, as much as 18 or 20 inches square, are carved by the Japanese and sold in the villages at a low price. Its value in Tokyo is given at 60 to 100 yen per 100 cubic feet. I saw a plank of this wood in a timber merchant's shop in Osaka measuring 15 feet long and 58 inches wide, showing wavy figure all through. For this plank 90 yen, equal to about ₤9, was asked, these immense planks being much valued by Japanese connoisseurs for house decoration.(H.J.E.)

 

 

Plate 66: Aesculus turbinata in Japan

Plate 66.

ÆSCULUS TURBINATA IN JAPAN

 

ÆSCULUS GLABRA, Ohio Buckeye

 

Æsculus glabra, Willdenow, Enum. Pl. Hort. Berol. 40 5 (1809); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i, 467 (1838), Sargent, Silva N. America, ii. 55, tt. 67, 68 (1892), Man. Trees N. America, 644 (1905).

Æsculus pallida, Willdenow, loc. cit. 406 (1809).

 

A tree attaining 70 feet in height and 6 feet in girth in America. Bark dark brown and scaly, becoming in old trees ¾ inch thick, ashy-grey, densely furrowed and broken into thick plates roughened on the surface by numerous small scales. Leaves with long slender stalks; leaflets five, oval or obovate-cuneate, long-acuminate, finely serrate in margin, with tufts of hairs in the bases of the serrations, glabrous underneath except for a few hairs along the midrib and tufts in the axils; petiolules short. Terminal leaflet with about fifteen pairs of nerves. Flowers in pubescent panicles, 5 to 6 inches long; calyx campanulate; petals four, pale yellow; claws shorter than the calyx; limbs twice as long as the claws, broadly ovate or oblong in the lateral pair, oblong-spathulate, much narrower and sometimes red-striped in the upper pair. Stamens usually seven, long, exserted, pubescent. Ovary pubescent. Fruit ovate or obovate, brown, 1 to 2 inches long, roughened by prickles.

The species is distinguished in summer by the glabrous leaves, which always show some cilia in the bases of the serrations. In winter the following characters of the twigs and buds may be recognised:—Twigs glabrous, shining, with orange-coloured lenticels. Leaf-scars slightly oblique on obscure leaf-cushions, crescentic or semicircular, with three groups of bundle-dots, the opposite scars wide apart and often not joined by any linear ridge. Pith large, circular, greenish. Buds not viscid; terminal much larger than the lateral, the latter arising from the twig at an angle of 45°; ovoid, acuminate; scales keeled on the back, ciliate in margin, acuminate, the pointed tips being raised outwardly, dark brown.

Var. Buckleyi, Sargent (Æsculus arguta, Buckley, Proc. Acad. Phil. 1860, p. 448), is a geographical form, occurring in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas, and characterised by six to seven leaflets, which are sharply and unequally serrate.

No well-marked horticultural varieties are known.

The type occurs in alluvial soil in Atlantic North America, from Pennsylvania to N. Alabama, and westward to S. Iowa, Central Kansas, Indian Territory, and S. Nebraska. Sargent says that it is nowhere very common and from an ornamental point of view very inferior to Æsculus octandra.

This species was introduced, according to Loudon, in 1812, but appears to be very rare in this country. At Devonshurst, Chiswick, a tree cut down in 1905 was 60 feet in height by 6 feet in girth, but though the tree probably exists in some nurseries and old gardens, where it is mistaken for Æsculus octandra, more commonly than is supposed, we cannot mention any which are remarkable. (A.H.)

 

 

ÆSCULUS OCTANDRA, Sweet Buckeye

 

Æsculus octandra, Marshall, Arbust. Am. 4 (1785); Sargent, Silva N. America, ii. 59, tt. 69, 70 (1892), and Man. Trees N. America, 646 (1905).

Æsculus lutea, Wangenheim, Schrift. Gesell. Nat. Fr. Berlin, viii. 133, t. 6 (1788).

Æsculus flava, Aiton, Hort. Kew, i. 403 (1789).

Æsculus neglecta, Lindley, Bot. Reg. xii. t. 1009 (1826).

Pavia flava, Moench, Method. 66 (1794); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 471 (1838).

 

A tree attaining in America 90 feet in height and 9 feet in girth of stem. Bark of trunk ¾ inch thick, dark brown, slightly fissured, separating on the surface into thin small scales. Leaves with long slender petioles. Leaflets five, occasionally seven, elliptical or obovate-oblong, cuneate at the base, acuminate, finely serrate, pubescent beneath; petiolules short. Terminal leaflet with twenty or more pairs of nerves. Flowers in pubescent panicles, 4 to 6 inches long; calyx campanulate; petals four, yellow, coming into contact at the tips, very unequal, the upper pair much longer than the lateral pair, claws villose within and much exceeding the calyx, limb of lateral pair obovate or round with a subcordate base, limb of upper pair spathulate, minute. Stamens usually seven, shorter than the petals, villose. Ovary pubescent. Fruit 2 to 3 inches long, brown, smooth or slightly pitted.

 

Identification

In summer distinguished from Æsculus glabra by the leaflets being pubescent beneath and devoid of cilia in the serrations; from Æsculus Pavia, by the larger leaves, which have petioles with smooth ridges on their upper surface. In winter the twigs show the following characters:—Branchlets glabrous, shining, with a few scattered lenticels. Leaf-scars flat on the twigs (there being no cushion), obovate, with usually three groups of bundle-dots; opposite scars joined by a linear ridge. Pith large, circular, green or white. Buds not viscid, terminal much larger than the lateral, the latter arising at an angle of 45°, long-oval, pointed at the apex; scales brown, the cilia on the exposed margins minute or absent, upper scales rounded at the apex and on the back, lower pair pointed at the apex and keeled on the back.

 

Varieties

1. Var. hybrida, Sargent (Var. purpurascens, A. Gray; Æsculus discolor,^[34] Pursh). This is a form occurring wild in the Alleghany mountains. The flowers are purple or red in colour, and the under surfaces of the leaves, as well as the petioles and panicles, are clothed with a dense pale pubescence.

2. Æsculus versicolor, Dippel. This is a hybrid between Æsculus octandra and Æsculus Pavia, and is intermediate in character, the flowers varying in colour from yellowish to pink. The edges of the petals show a few glands and are tufted ciliate.

A considerable number of forms of this variety are known in cultivation in which slight differences occur in the length and shape of the petals. Æsculus Lyoni and Æsculus Whitleyi are apparently sub-varieties of this hybrid. The forms with red flowers are often known in gardens as Pavia rubra, a name which belongs properly to Æsculus Pavia.

 

Distribution

This tree occurs in alluvial soil of river valleys and on moist mountain slopes, from Pennsylvania southward to Georgia and N. Alabama; and westward to S. Iowa, Indian Territory, and W. Texas. Sargent says that when at its best on the slopes of the Tennessee and Carolina mountains, it sends up a straight shaft sometimes free of branches for 60 to 70 feet, and reaches a total height of 90 feet. (A.H.)

 

Cultivation

According to Loudon this species was introduced into England in 1764, but though more common in cultivation than any Æsculus except A. Hippocastanum, and apparently not particular about soil, it does not attain any great size. It is perfectly hardy at Colesborne, and ripens fruit in most years, from which I have raised seedlings, which, however, do not grow so fast or well as those of the common horse-chestnut. A seedling raised from a tree at Tortworth in 1905 was 6 inches high in the first year, and some raised from seed which I gathered in the Arnold arboretum, which germinated earlier, were much injured by the frost of May 21–22.

At Syon there are two trees, probably of a great age, both grafted on the common horse-chestnut. One is 65 feet high by 4 feet 4 inches in girth; the other is 56 feet high by 6 feet 4 inches in girth, with a bole of 7 feet, dividing into three stems, which form a wide-spreading crown. A tree at Belton Park, Lincolnshire, was, in 1904, 50 feet high by 3 feet 4 inches in girth, with a fine straight stem, drawn up in a wood. Another, crowded by other trees near the Broad Water at Fairford Park, Gloucestershire, measures about 60 feet by 4 feet 5 inches. A self-sown seedling was growing near it in 1903. There is also a tree, measuring about 50 feet by 5 feet 6 inches, at Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham. (H.J.E.)

 

ÆSCULUS CALIFORNICA, Californian Buckeye

 

Æsculus californica, Nuttall, in Torrey and Gray, Fl. N. America, i. 251 (1839); Bot. Mag. t. 5077 (1858); Sargent, Silva N. America, ii. 61, tt. 71, 72, and Man. Trees. N. America, 648 (1905); Bean, in Gard. Chron. 1902, xxxi. 187, fig. 57.

 

A tree, attaining in America 40 feet in height, with a short trunk occasionally 9 feet in girth, Bark smooth, grey or white. Leaves with slender grooved petioles. Leaflets five to seven, stalked, oblong lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, cuneate or obtuse at the base, shallowly and crenately serrate, pale glabrescent beneath. Terminal leaflet, with ten to twelve pairs of nerves. Flowers in dense pubescent panicles, 3 to 8 inches long. Calyx two-lipped, upper lip with three teeth, lower lip with two teeth much shorter than the four narrow oblong petals, which are white or pale rose in colour. Stamens five to seven, long, erect, exserted. Ovary pubescent. Fruit pear-shaped, two to three inches long, smooth, pale brown.

In summer it is readily distinguished from the other species with viscid buds by the small leaves, pale beneath. In winter the twigs are slender, grey, glabrous, with numerous lenticels. Leaf-scars wide apart, joined by a linear ridge, flat on the twig, without a leaf-cushion, crescentic or semicircular, with a row of five to seven bundle-dots. Pith large, circular, white. Terminal buds, larger than the lateral buds, which arise at an acute angle, oval, pointed, glistening with white resin; scales gaping at the apex of the bud, broadly ridged on the back, ciliate in margin, with a tuft of hairs at the apex.

The species is a native of California, where it grows on the banks of streams. A very striking picture of a tree, at San Mateo, California, is given in Garden and Forest, iv. 523. It shows a very short forked bole, nearly 20 feet in girth at 2 feet from the ground, and an immense umbrella-shaped head only 32 feet high and 60 feet in diameter, densely covered all over with flowers.

It was introduced in 1855 by Messrs. Veitch, and flowered in their nursery at Exeter in 1858. It fruited^[35] at the Bath Botanic Gardens in 1901, and again in 1905, though it remains a shrub. It is perfectly hardy in the south of England, and is remarkable for the beauty of its flowers, which appear in June and July. The best specimen we know of in the country is one which Elwes found growing in a shrubbery at Hutley Towers near Ryde, Isle of Wight. It is about 30 feet high, and was in flower on June 22, 1906.(A.H.)

 

 

Plate 61: Aesculus, leaves

Plate 61.

AESCULUS

 

 

Plate 62: Aesculus

Plate 62.

AESCULUS

 

---

1. The two Mexican species, which have tri-foliolate leaves, are now separated as a distinct genus, Billia.
2. Cf. Hance in Journ. Bot. viii, 312 (1870).
3. Gard. Chron. 1877, viii. 691.
4. Cf. Lubbock, Seedlings, i. 356 (1892), where it is stated that the seed is carried a considerable height above ground during germination owing to the great length of the caulicle. So far as I have observed, the seed does not change its position during germination.
5. See article by Roze, translated in Gard. Chron. 1898, xxiii. 228.
6. Gard. Chron. 1868, p. 1116.
7. Rev. Belgique Horticole, 1854, iv. 216.
8. See Garden, 1890, xxxviii. 601, where some observations are recorded on the periods of flowering of the single and double horse-chestnuts, and of Æsculus carnea.
9. Rev. Horticole, 1884, p. 98.
10. Mitt. Deut. Dendrol. Gesell. 1905, pp. 13, 14, and 1906, p. 10.
11. Handbuch Laubholz-Benennung, 321 (1903).
12. Consp. Fl. Græcæ, i. 291 (1900).
13. Rivista Collez. Botan. in Albania, 23 (Florence, 1897).
14. Verhand. Bot. Vereins Prov. Brandenburg, 1879, p. 139. The British Minister at Athens, Sir F.E.H. Elliot, K.C.M.G., who kindly made inquiries, has sent us a letter from Professor Miliarakis of the University of Athens, dated April 2, 1904, which confirms Heldreich's statements.
15. Flora Orientalis, i. 947 (1867).
16. Pflanzenverbreitung in Kaukasusländern, 433, 434 (1899).
17. Sibthorp et Smith, Fl. Græcæ Prodromus, i. 252 (1806). Hawkins' observation has been disputed, as he records it from Pelion, where the tree does not, so far as we know now, occur wild. Orphanides was the first to establish beyond doubt that the tree is indigenous to the mountains of northern Greece. Cf. Grisebach, Vegetation der Erde, French ed. i. 521.
18. Matthiolus, Epistol. Medicin. Libri Quinque (Prague, 1561).
19. Matthiolus, Comment. in Dioscorid. Mat. Med. 211 (Venice, 1565).
20. Clusius, Rar. Plant. Hist. 7 (1601).
21. Tournefort, Relation d'un Voyage au Levant, i. 530 (1717).
22. Trans. Scot. Arb. Soc. xi. 540 (1887).
23. Trans. Scot. Arb. Soc. ix. p. 151 (1886).
24. Woods and Forests of Perthshire, 1883.
25. Old and Remarkable Trees of Scotland, p. 115.
26. Rev. Hort. loc. cit.
27. André, Rev. Hort. loc. cit.
28. Verhand. Ver. Beford. Gart. Konig. Preuss. Staat, 1855.
29. Arboretum Notes, 73 (1889).
30. Figured in Gard. Chron. 1904, xxxvi. 206, Suppl. Illust.
31. Gard. Chron. 1903, xxxiii. 188.
32. Mitt. Deut. Dendrol. Gesell. 1905, p. 12.
33. Forest Flora of Japan, 28.
34. Figured in Bot. Reg. iv. 310 (1818).
35. Gard. Chron. 1902, xxxi. 187.