{"id":1140,"date":"2024-05-02T11:11:57","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T10:11:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/?page_id=1140"},"modified":"2024-07-26T18:16:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T17:16:44","slug":"16-group-of-2-horse-chestnuts-aesculus-hippocastanum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/?page_id=1140","title":{"rendered":"16. Horse Chestnuts – group of 2 (Aesculus hippocastanum)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What3Words reference: turned.visa.gallons<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Location notes: Group of 2 trees, one with smooth bark, near the Crab Apple and the large stump and fallen trunk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This non-native tree is native to the Balkan Peninsula and was first introduced to the UK from Turkey in the late 16th century. It is a common sight in parks and gardens where its white cones of florets with a pink eye make a stunning show in May. It is of course a favourite tree for children to collect conkers in the autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slightly smaller variety especially along urban main roads, the Red Horse Chestnut, Aesculus Carnea Briotti, with red cones of flowers, is less long lived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mature horse chestnut tree can live for 300 years and grow to a height of 40m. The bark is smooth and pinky-grey when young, and darkens and develops scaly plates with age. Buds are large, oval, dark red and sticky and are a good identifier for the tree in winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seeds of the tree are protected by a green spiky case which split to reveal shiny brown conkers. The leaves are palmate; in other words 5 or 7 pointed, toothed leaflets arranged in a symmetrical fan round a central stem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flowers provide a rich source of nectar and pollen for insects, particularly bees. Caterpillars of the triangle moth feed on its leaves, as does the horse chestnut leaf-miner moth whose caterpillars provide food for blue tits. Deer and other mammals eat the conkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Probably due to being an introduction, there is little mythology connected but there are many rules in different parts of the country in the UK for playing conker games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photographs to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What3Words reference: turned.visa.gallons Location notes: Group of 2 trees, one with smooth bark, near the Crab Apple and the large stump and fallen trunk. This non-native tree is native to the Balkan Peninsula and was first introduced to the UK from Turkey in the late 16th century. It is a common sight in parks and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1140","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1366,"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1140\/revisions\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsofriversidepark.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}