Family: Hippocastanaceae, Horse-chestnut view all from this family

Description Introduced shade and ornamental tree with spreading, elliptical to rounded crown of stout branches and coarse foliage.
Height: 70' (21 m).
Diameter: 2' (0.6 m).
Leaves: opposite; palmately compound; with leafstalks 3-7" (7.5-18 cm) long. 7 leaflets (sometimes 5) spreading fingerlike, 4-10" (10-25 cm) long, 1-3 1/2" (2.5-9 cm) wide; obovate or elliptical; broadest toward abrupt point; tapering to stalkless base; saw-toothed. Dull dark green above, paler beneath.
Bark: gray or brown; thin, smooth, becoming fissured and scaly.
Twigs: light brown; stout, hairless; ending in large blackish sticky bud.
Flowers: 1" (2.5 cm) long; narrowly bell-shaped; with 4-5 spreading narrow white petals, red- and yellow-spotted at base; many flowers in upright branched clusters 10" (25 cm) long; in late spring.
Fruit: 2-2 1/2" (5-6 cm) in diameter; a brown spiny or warty capsule, splitting into 2-3 parts; 1-2 large rounded shiny brown poisonous seeds; maturing in late summer.

Warning Seeds can be toxic and in some cases fatal to humans and animals. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.

Habitat A shade and street tree in rich moist soils.

Range Native of SE. Europe; widely planted across the United States and escaped in the Northeast.

Discussion The Horse-chestnut is showy when bearing masses of whitish flowers for a few weeks in spring. Easily propagated from seed and tolerant of city conditions, although the stout branches are broken by winds. Turks reportedly used the seeds to concoct a remedy given to horses suffering from cough, hence the common and Latin species names.