Botanical name:                  Aesculus hippocastanum

Family:                                   Hippocastanaceae

Common Name:                   Horse Chestnut

Habitat and Distribution:

Native to mountainous woodland regions of north Greece and Albania, but long cultivated throughout temperate regions.

Commonly found in parks, garden, streets and greens.

It prefers a moist, well drained soil in full sun, but is fairly soil adaptable

Description:

A large deciduous flowering tree which commonly grows to 17-25 metres grow to more than 30metres (100ft) and attain a thickness of 2.2 metres.

Most specimens are taller than they are broad.

The leaves are light green as they emerge but turn dark green, usually having 7 (occasionally 5) broad, stalkless leaflets 100-250 mm long (4-10 inches). In autumn they turn a poor yellow or just brown and are often scorched or blotched.

The showy flowers, borne in late spring, are white with a yellow turning to red patch on the petal bases and form clusters up to 30 cm (12 in) high

Fruits are green about 6 cm across and have and have hard spines. The fruits split in October to release one or two shiny brown conkers

Bark is dark reddish or grayish brown, on older branches and trunks it splits into large plates which shows the orange bark beneath.

Location within the arboretum:

The tree is located in the north east of the old entrance gate area, quite close to the fence. Some fine, mature specimens can be seen at Welburn cross road as you turn into the village.

Furniture Makers Trees at The Arboretum - Kew at Castle Howard

Timber:

Fine grained, often shows ripple figures.

Creamy white if felled in winter but varies from yellow to light brown if felled later in the season.

Uses:

Horse chestnut is not particularly valued for its wood and would be typically used for pallets and packing cases. Straight-grained timber is suitable for engineering pattern making.

It is not commonly seen in furniture manufacture, it is difficult to dry in large pieces so is more often used for small decorative pieces (either carved or turned) or sliced for decorative veneers. It is also dyed for inlay and marquetry work.

Also used for small turned kitchen or utility items and brush backs.

The nuts or conkers are used to play the game of ‘conkers’ or ‘conqueror’.

Small tree in early autumn

Bark

Leaf in early autumn just starting to turn

Leaf in early autumn colouring up nicely

Bud

Flowers

‘Conker’

Detail of grain