Tree of the Week

Week 2 – Aesculus hippocastanum; Horse Chestnut, conker tree

This week I’ve chosen a common street tree that is dead easy to identify all year round. At this time of year the obvious distinguishing feature is the leaf buds. They are the only buds you will find that are a big fat teardrop shape at the end of the twig, dark brown and very sticky, like a chewed toffee. Also, the leaf scars on the twig, where the previous season’s leaves have dropped off, look like tiny hoofprints running up the twig – hence its really easy to remember that this is the Horse Chestnut. ‘Hippo’ is Greek for horse – as in Hippopotamus, ‘horse of the river’. Trivia like this helps me to remember botanical names! It's a big tree, so if you can’t reach a twig, you’ll need to look for rough grey bark as shown below, and the form of the mature tree is domed, like the end of your thumb. Conkers germinate easily if they fall on good soil. You could grow one in a pot at home, but then you’d end up with an unwanted conker tree. In early summer the flowers look like candles standing up on the branches all over the tree.

Once again, lots more interesting info about this tree at Kew’s site.