21 8 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



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' was obtained in 1858, by M. Briot at the State 

 Nurseries of the Trianon, Versailles, as a seedling of ^sculus 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. yEsculus plantierensis, Andr6, 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 Freres at 

 Planti^res-l^s-Metz, from a seed of ySsculus Hippocastanum. Other intermediate 

 forms, named by Andr6 ^sculus intermedia and ySsculus balgiana, were derived 

 from seeds of ^sculus carnea. 



History 



Nothing is known for certain concerning the origin of ^sculus carnea. Loise- 

 leur received the plant from Germany in 181 8, 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 

 yEsculus Pavia. According to Andrd ^ 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,' 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.) 



Rev, Hort. loc. cit. * Andre, Rev. Hort. loc. cit. 



' Vtrhand. Vtr. Beford. Cart. Konig. Prmss. Stoat, 1855. 



