THE HORSE CHESTNUT
1. Horse Chestnut Tree in Autumn2. Young Leaf3. Full-grown Leaf
4. Sticky Bud in Leaf Scar5. Flower Spike6. Single Flower7. Fruit in Case
The Horse Chestnut (1) was brought to this country five hundred years ago, and we prize it greatly for its beautiful flowers and leaves. It has a large, stout trunk, covered with a rough, scaly bark, on which you will frequently notice many green patches caused by a tiny plant which makes its home there.
The branches are large and spreading, and they sweep downwards to the ground, then rise again towards the tips, forming graceful curves. The shoots bearing the buds always point towards the sky, and in spring these shoots grow very fast for about a month, then they do not become any larger, but the shoot thickens and is soon tough and woody.
All winter the Horse Chestnut buds can be seen on the tree—large, dark, purply brown buds (4) covered with a thick coating of sticky gum. In April these buds begin to swell and the gummy covering melts. It held together twelve dark brown scales, and these fall to the ground, showing an under layer of paler scales. The growing bud inside soon pushes itself through these scales, and the young leaf appears, a delicate, pale green bud, with its leaves closely folded like a fan. They open very quickly in the warm sunshine, but for some days after they have shaken themselves loose from the scaly coverings each leaf (2) hangs on its stalk like a half-opened parasol, with all its tips pointing to the ground. But soon the leaf tips rise, and the parasol is fully opened and a beautiful leafy screen it is.
The leaf (3) is cut up into seven leaflets, and every leaflet is shaped like a pear, with the broad part pointing outwards and the narrow end joining the leaf stalk. These pear-shaped leaflets are not all the same size; there are two which are quite small and two a little larger, and the other three are larger still. The leaflets have small teeth round their edges, and there is a raised rib running up the centre, from which branches a network of fine veins all over the leaflet.
The Horse Chestnut leaves grow opposite each other in pairs, and each pair is placed cross-ways to the pair farther down on the branch, in the same way as those of the Sycamore. In July the leaves begin to change colour; they turn red and brown, and they fall very early in autumn. Look closely at the twigs and you will see on them many curious marks shaped like horse-shoes; these are the scars (4) where a leaf stalk joined the twig, and above each of these scars you can see next year’s leaf bud already distinctly formed.