342 



TREES AND SHRUBS 



Name. 



''M, Hippocastanum 

 (Common Horse 

 Chestnut) 



M. indica 



*M. (Pavia) parvi- 

 flora 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order, 



Loudon, in his 

 " Arboretum," 

 says: " Accord- 

 ing to M.Jaume 

 Sainte- Hilaire, 

 and his account 

 appears to us 

 the most prob- 

 able, the Horse 

 Chestnut passed 

 from the moun- 

 tains of Thibet 

 to England in 

 1550." Gerard 

 mentions the 

 Horse Chestnut 

 in his ' ' Her- 

 bal " iti 1579 as 

 a rare foreign 

 tree 



Nepaul, and other 

 parts of Nor- 

 thern India. 

 On the Hima- 

 laya the tree 

 reaches a height 

 of 70 feet, with 

 a trunlc 3 feet 

 through 



North America. 

 On river banks 

 in Georgia. In- 

 troduced to 

 England by Mr. 

 John Fraser in 

 1786 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



White ; 



late May 



or early 



June. 



There is 



considerable 



variation, 



as many of 



the trees in 



parks and 



gardens 



have been 



raised from 



seed 



White, 

 with yellow 



and red 

 blotches at 

 the base of 

 the petals ; 



Summer 



General Remarks. 



White 



fragrant 



flowers 



sometimes 



tinged with 



pink, and 



long 

 stamens, 



The common Horse Chestnut is 

 too well known to describe. 

 It is not a tree for very ex- 

 posed places, as its large 

 leaves offer considerable re- 

 sistance to the wind, and 

 get torn and unsightly. The 

 double variety (flore-pleno) is 

 very distinct, having quite 

 double flowers. Foliis aureis 

 variegatis is a variegated 

 variety, as the name sug- 

 gests, with blotches of yellow 

 on the leaves ; and laciniata 

 has cut foliage. 



This distinct and beautiful tree 

 is perhaps the rarest of the 

 Horse Chestnuts in cultiva- 

 tion, and probably neither so 

 hardy nor so robust as the 

 common species. It flowered 

 in England as long ago as 

 1858 at Mildenhall in Suffolk, 

 but has been little heard of. 

 It is a tree doubtless for the 

 Cornish and Devonshire and 

 southern coast gardens where 

 the Himalayan Rhododen- 

 drons thrive well. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, during his Himalaya 

 travels fifty years ago, saw it 

 loaded with its white racemes , 

 and equal in beauty to the 

 common Horse Chestnut of 

 English parks. Its foliage is 

 quite distinct from that of 

 the other species, the leaflets 

 numbering seven or nine, 

 and being of a dark glossy 

 green. In the other Horse 

 Chestnuts the leaflets are 

 usually only five to each leaf, 

 and never more than seven. 

 The racemes of this Indian 

 species are about 8 inches 

 long, the flowers being white, 

 with blotches of yellow and 

 red at the base of the petals. 



This is better known as P. 

 macrostachya, and is a low, 

 spreading shrub 8 to 10 feet 

 high ; the leaves consist of 

 five to seven finely serrated 

 leaflets, covered underneath 

 with a whitish tomentum. 

 Although introduced so long 



