Tree Flowers: September 2017: Red Horse Chestnut

Ths is a very variable hybrid between Common Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) and Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia). It varies in the quality of the flowers, but more importantly can suffer from a genetic abnormality that can cause the branches to swell create far too many buds and can lead to the death of the tree.

The one photographed has been in place for many years in between a main road and a road that leads to the driveways of the houses on the left. Apart from keeping it away from the telephone wires, I doubt much attention has been paid to it since planting.

The flowers are interesting, but they don't last long. While they are around, they appear on upright panicales that grow up to 20cm in length. The flowers vary between pink to deep red.

There are a few cultivars around, such as the French 'Briotti', a compact, but strong growing tree, and 'Plantierensis' which is similar to the common horse chestnut. I'm unaware of any real use for these trees, after the flowers are gone there's not much interest. Before I sign off, let's have a look at the flowers:

Flowers on the panicle.

A group of stacked photos to show an individual flower.