Aesculus hippocastanum                    Hippocastanaceae

Horsechestnut                ES-ku-lus hip-o-kas-TA-num

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, 50-75 ft (15-23 m), upright, oval.  Leaves dark green, opposite, palmately compound, usually 7 but sometimes 5 leaflets, each 10-25 cm long, 5-13 cm wide, base wedge- shaped (cuneate), tip acuminate, margin double serrate; held late into fall and yielding a good yellow color.   Buds large, 6-19 mm and varnished with a sticky gum.  Flowers are white with a blotch of color (yellow then red), borne in 10-30 cm terminal clusters (panicles) in May; very showy. Fruit is green and finally light brown, spiny surface, about 5 cm diam, matures in early fall; contain one, occasionally two, dark brown seeds.
• Sun or light shade, well-drained soil, pH adaptable, avoid extremely dry situations.
• Hardy to USDA Zone (3) 4     Native to the mountains of Greece and Albania.   Only few cultivars in commerce, the most commonly offered is 'Baumannii', which has double flowers and produces very few fruit.
• The fruit are inedible and considered poisonous.  The fruit's bitter taste prevents the consumption of large amounts.  The toxic constituents amount to 3-5% of the seed and are a mixture of saponins (aescin), including protoaescigenin (Frohne and Pfänder, 1984).
• The nut of the horsechestnut, is known as a conker in the U.K.  They are used in a popular children's game, known as conkers, where a nut is threaded onto a strong cord and then each contestant attempts to break their opponent's conker by hitting it with their own. For more infromation see: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/conkers.html
• hippocastanum: the classical Latin name for the horsechestnut, from the Greek hippos, horse, and kastana, chestnut.
• Oregon State Univ. campus: southeast of Waldo, a single tree combined at the base with an A. × carnea, probably its rootstock.  Also several trees near 9th and Jefferson.