Aesculus sylvatica
Two grafted on Common Horse Chestnut Aesculus sylvatica
Aesculus sylvatica is native to Northern America representative of the horse chestnut (Aesculus ).
Features
Aesculus sylvatica is a small tree, reaching heights of growth of 15 m with a trunk diameter of 5 to 25 cm, or more commonly a small shrub 1-3 m height. The bark is dark to light gray, its surface is divided into small thin plates. Branches are pale reddish- brown and bare. The buds are ovate, acuminate to obtuse, 7-8 mm long, light brown.
The leaves are composed of 5 or 7 palmately arranged leaflets. The petiole is 8-18 cm long, glabrous to slightly pubescent. The leaves are 8-20 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, oblong- verkehrteiförmig, lanceolate, verkehrtlanzeolat to elliptical. The blade end is pointed, the base acute to acuminate. The leaf margin is simply or doubly serrate or irregularly crenate -serrate. The surface is bare (with a few hairs on the nerves) densely hairy bos. The top is yellow-green, green the bottom. The sub-petioles are 3-12 mm long.
The inflorescence is narrow to broadly pyramidal, 10-15 cm long and pubescent. The flowers are usually yellow, often reddish. The flower stalk is 3-5 mm long and hairy. The calyx is 7-15 mm long, campanulate to tubular and bell-shaped, densely hairy with a few or no glands, the margin of the calyx is hairy and drüsenlos. The five sepals are oblong - ovate, narrow and round or truncate. The crown is hairy shaggy on the nails and the disk edges, the plate surface is densely glandular, but occupied with a few hairs. The upper petals are 25 to 37 mm long, the nails are 21 to 32 mm long, while the same length as or longer than the lateral petals. The plate is small, verkehrteiförmig upper spatulate. The lateral petals are 20-30 mm long, the nails 10 to 18 mm that is longer than the calyx. The plate is broad and oval, round, and often with a heart- shaped base. The 6 or 7 stamens are 18 to 30 mm long, the stamens are hairy shaggy in the lower half. The anthers are smooth, glandular at the top and slightly glandular at the base of the loculi. The stamp is the same length or slightly longer than the stamens and with the exception of the scar hairy shaggy.
The capsule is spherical and the fruit has a diameter of 2.5 to 4 cm. The pericarp is thin, light pitting and light brown. The seeds are spherical or irregular, are at 1-3, rarely 4-6 in the fruit and dark maroon.
Dissemination and locations
The distribution area includes the Piedmont Plateau of southern Virginia through the Carolinas and Georgia to the north-east of Alabama; to the north by Tennessee and to the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau.
The species grows on various sites: deciduous and pine forests, rocky slopes, river banks and swampy forests. They most often grows on the well-drained slopes of the Piedmont Province.
System
Aesculus sylvatica is placed in the section within the genus Aesculus Pavia. It forms with the other, sympatric species of section hybrids. The species is very variable, some of this variability is attributed to introgression of Aesculus pavia Aesculus flava and.
The species was first described in 1794 by John Bartram. The validity of this description has been long discussed and if by some agents of the name Aesculus neglecta Lindley preference. Today, the name Ae applies. sylvatica described as being correct.
Documents
- James W. Hardin: A revision of the American Hippocastanaceae II Brittonia, Volume 9, 1957, pp. 173-195.