The rain last night and this morning brought a little happiness to our stressed landscapes and woods, but they need much more. The near-drought situation seems to have provoked our Horse Chestnut Trees (Aesculus hippocastanum) into sprouting their beautiful, foot-long candelabra-shaped flower stalks a bit early along the coast here. The trees’ usually lush palmate leaves also seem dry for May. The images shown here were taken on Thursday (May 27).
Horse Chestnut trees are native to the Balkans. They were imported into England in 1616, primarily for landscape shade on large estates. They were first exported from England to its American colonies as shade trees in the 1740s.
The large tree is called a chestnut tree because of perceived similarities to the European Sweet Chestnut Tree (Castanea sativa), but it’s not related to that tree. Most botanists say that it was called a “Horse” Chestnut because the Turks fed its conker seeds to cure coughing horses. Some also say that it got that name because, when the trees’ leaves fall, they leave scars on their twigs that look like horseshoes complete with nail holes. (Brooklin, Maine) See also the image in the first Comment space.