Other names:
Hippocastanum vulgare, Common Horse-chestnut
Description:
Horse Chestnut bark has narcotic and febrifuge properties.
It is used in intermittent fevers and externally applied to ulcers.
The fruits are used in rheumatism, neuralgia and haemorrhoids.
Cultivation:
Horse Chestnut is a large deciduous tree with a grayish-green bark and grows to a height of 36 m. Its leaves are opposite; palmately compound, with 5-7 leaflets, each having a length of 10-25 cm. Its flowers are mostly white, with a reddish tinge and the fruits are in the form of green, softly spiky capsule which, generally, contain one nut-like seeds called horse chestnuts.
The most familiar member of the genus worldwide is the common horse-chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum, native to a small area of the Balkans in southeast Europe, but widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. The yellow buckeye Aesculus flava (syn. A. octandra) is also a valuable ornamental tree with yellow flowers, but is less widely planted. Among the smaller species, the bottlebrush buckeye Aesculus parviflora also makes a very interesting and unusual flowering shrub. Several other members of the genus are used as ornamentals, and several horticultural hybrids have also been developed, most notably the red horse-chestnut A. × carnea, a hybrid between A. hippocastanum and A. pavia.
They are generally fairly problem-free, though a recently discovered leaf-mining moth Cameraria ohridella is currently causing major problems in much of Europe, causing premature leaf fall which looks very unattractive. The symptoms (brown blotches on the leaves) can be confused with damage caused by the leaf fungus Guignardia aesculi, which is also very common but usually less serious. Common horse-chestnut is also used as a food plant by the sycamore, another species of moth.
Another disease in parts of North West Europe and North America is bleeding canker
Plant info:
Sapindaceae
Plant Longevity:
Perennial
Tags: herbs, alternative medicine, Horsechestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum,
