Trunk of the Month: November 2015: Aesculus indica

I took this photo of the Indian horse chestnut in January 2014, about 11 months before I'd thought of investigating and blogging about a different trunk for each month in 2015. It really captured my interest due to the varied shapes of the bark fragments and the colours ranging from almost white to red to brown. The colour seems to depend on the age of the layer of bark, with old parts being brown. The lighter colours are revealed when fragments fall off and create a vertical crater-like landscape.

This species can grow to around 30 metres in height with a spread of around 2 metres and is fairly hardy at a reported -50^oC. Being related to the European horse chestnut, affectionately known as the 'conker tree' to generations of British children, this species has the same sort of white flowers on spikes and they're pollinated by bees. It also provides a 'conker-like' seed, but this is apparently wrinkled and smaller than the European version.

Along with this species' use as an ornamental tree, the wood is used to make items such as spoons, boxes, and pots. The leaves are used as cattle feed, while the seeds are ground into a bitter flour. The saponins, which creates the bitterness, dissolve in water and are removed during preparation. (Side note: I don't know if the saponins of this tree are used to when fishing to poison fish and make them easier to collect, but anyone who watches bushcraft/tribal/survival programmes is likely to have seen saponins used in this way before).The seeds of this species are also used in traditional medicine in India, for headaches, rheumatism, and skin disease, etc.

All in all, this beautiful tree is useful for many reasons. Thanks for reading :)

Resources:
Aesculus indica (Indian horse chestnut) | Plants & Fungi At Kew. 2015. Aesculus indica (Indian horse chestnut) | Plants & Fungi At Kew. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/aesculus-indica-indian-horse-chestnut. [Accessed 28 November 2015].
Aesculus indica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2015. Aesculus indica - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus_indica. [Accessed 28 November 2015].

Friday Five: Seeds

 -1-  

The largest organism on Earth, the General Sherman (Sequoiadendron giganteum) germinated from a seed weighing just a six-thousandth of a gram.

-2-

So far, the earliest seed plants that have been found in the fossil record are from the Devonian period, showing that seed plants have been around for at least 360 million years. The plants were gymnosperms, which include conifers and cycads, as well as the living fossil ginkgo biloba.

-3-

There are about 600 different species of fungi that are known to infect seeds and use them to propagate themselves. Some can be beneficial, or at least benign to the plant, however some can cause disease, such as bunt in wheat. These fungi destroy the flowers and then spread by spores.

-4-

The coco de mer is the biggest largest seed in the world. It was originally collected in the Maldives, which is why it was given the epithet of maldivica, however its' true home was eventually found to be the Seychelles. It can grow to 18 kg / 40 lbs in weight and around 30 cm / 12 in long.
The large size allows the seed to power the growth of the plant so efficiently that it can grow 10 meters in height within a few years.

-5-

The largest wingspan of any seed is held by the Brazilian zebra wood tree (Centrolobium robustum). These seeds are protected by spines and have a wing up to 30 cm long!

-Bonus-

Here's David Attenborough talking about the coco de mer seeds:


Resources:
Silvertown, Jonathan. An Orchard Invisible: A Natural History of Seeds. Reprint edition. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 2010.