of New York 



101 



HORSE CHESTNUT 



Aesculus hippocastaneum, Linnaeus 



THE HORSE CHESTNUT has been carried by man from its 

 original home in the mountains of Greece over a consid- 

 erable part of the civilized world. 



The leaves are opposite, compound, with 5 to 7 leaflets. 

 The leaflets are 5 to 7 inches long, about 2 inches wide, 

 inversely egg-shaped, 

 arranged in fan - like 

 foym. 



The flowers appear 

 in May or June, are 

 large, white, with 

 throats dotted with 

 yellow and purple, 

 arranged in upright 

 clusters 8 to 1 2 inches 

 high. The fruit is a 

 leathery round cap- 

 sule, about 2 inches 

 across, roughened 

 with spines, and con- 

 tain 1 to 3 shiny 

 brown nuts. 



The bark is dark- 

 brown, breaks up 

 into thin plates 

 which peel off slow- 

 ly. The twigs are 

 stout, reddish-brown, smooth, obscurely dotted with breath- 

 ing pores, marked with large horseshoe- like leaf -scars each 

 with 5 to 7 groups of bundle-scars. The buds are large, 

 sticky, varnished, reddish-brown. The wood is soft, light 

 weak, whitish. 



The Horse Chestnut is a sturdy, rapid-growing tree, now 

 found in every state of the Union, and widely distributed in 

 eastern and southern New York. It does not survive the severe 

 winters of the Adirondack region. 



HORSE-CHESTNUT 

 Twig, one-half natural size. 

 Leaf, flowers and fruit, one-third natural size. 



