Aesculus

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids II
Ordo: Sapindales

Familia: Sapindaceae
Subfamilia: Hippocastanoideae
Tribus: Hippocastaneae
Genus: Aesculus
Sectiones: A. sect. Aesculus – A. sect. Calothyrsus – A. sect. Macrothyrsus – A. sect. Parryana – A. sect. Pavia

Species: A. assamica - A. californica - A. chinensis - A. flava – A. glabra – A. hippocastanum – A. indica – A. parryi – A. parviflora – A. pavia – A. sylvatica – A. turbinata

Paleospecies: †A. hankensii – †A. hickeyi – †A. longipedunculus – †A. magnificum – †A. majus – †A. miochinensis

Nothospecies: A. × bushii – A. × hybrida – A. × marylandica – A. × mutabilis – A. × neglecta – A. × worlitzensis

Artificial Nothospecies: A. × arnoldiana – A. × balgiana – A. × carnea – A. × hemiacantha
Name

Aesculus L., Sp. Pl. 1: 344 (1753).

Type species: Aesculus hippocastanum L., Sp. Pl. 1: 344 (1753).

Synonyms

Homotypic
Esculus L., Gen. ed. 5. 161 (1754), nom. superfl.
Hippocastanum Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4 (1754).
Hippocaztanum Raf., Alsog. Am. 70 (1838).
Heterotypic
Actinotinus Oliver, Hooker’s Icon. Pl. 18: t. 1740 (1888), p.p.
Calothyrsus Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 2. 2: 62 (1834).
Isypus Raf., Fl. Tell. 4: 73 (1838).
Macrothyrsus Spach, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. ser. 2. 2: 61 (1834).
Nebropsis Raf., Alsogr. 68 (1838).
Oesculus Neck., Elem. Bot. (Necker) 2: 232 (1790), nom. invalid.
Ozotis Raf., Alsogr. 71 (1838).
Pavia Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4. (28 Jan 1754).
Paviana Raf., Fl. Ludov. 87 (1817).
Pawia Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 1: 145 (1891).

References

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 344. Reference page.
Farr, E. R. & Zijlstra, G. eds. (1996-) Index Nominum Genericorum (Plantarum) (2009) Dec 13 [1].
Forest, F., Drouin, J.N., Charest, R., Brouillet, L. & Bruneau, A. 2001. A morphological phylogenetic analysis of Aesculus L. and Billia Peyr. (Sapindaceae). Canadian Journal of Botany 79(2): 154-169. DOI: 10.1139/b00-146Reference page.
Turland, N.J. & Xia, N.-H. 2005. A New Combination in Chinese Aesculus (Hippocastanaceae). Novon 15(3): 488–499. JSTOR BHL ResearchGate Reference page.
Harris, A.J., Xiang, Q.-Y. & Thomas, D.T. 2009. Phylogeny, origin, and biogeographic history of Aesculus L. (Sapindales) – an update from combined analysis of DNA sequences, morphology, and fossils. Taxon 58(1): 108–126. DOI: 10.1002/tax.581012 JSTOR Reference page.
Xiang, Q.-Y., Crawford, D. J., Wolfe, A. D., Tang, Y.-C., & DePamphilis, C. W. 1998. Origin and Biogeography of Aesculus L. (Hippocastanaceae): A Molecular Phylogenetic Perspective. Evolution 52 (4): 988–997.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Aesculus in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 July 14. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2014. Aesculus. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 14 Mar. 2014.

Vernacular names
беларуская: Конскі каштан
čeština: Jírovec
Deutsch: Rosskastanien
English: Buckeyes & Horse-chestnuts
suomi: Hevoskastanjat
français: Maronnier
magyar: Vadgesztenye, bokrétafa, lógesztenye
norsk nynorsk: Hestekastanjeslekta
norsk: Hestekastanjeslekten
русский: Конский каштан
slovenčina: Pagaštan
svenska: Hästkastanjesläktet
Türkçe: At kestanesi
українська: Гіркокаштан

The genus Aesculus (/ˈɛskjʊləs/[1] or /ˈaɪskjʊləs/), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species native to North America and seven to thirteen species native to Eurasia. Several hybrids occur. Aesculus exhibits a classical Arcto-Tertiary distribution.[a]

Mexican buckeye seedpods resemble the Aesculus seedpods, but belong to a different genus.

Carl Linnaeus named the genus Aesculus after the Roman name for an edible acorn. Common names for these trees include "buckeye" and "horse chestnut", though they are not in the same order as the true chestnuts, Castanea. Some are also called white chestnut or red chestnut. In Britain, they are sometimes called conker trees because of their link with the game of conkers, played with the seeds, also called conkers.

Description

Aesculus species have stout shoots with resinous, often sticky, buds; opposite, palmately divided leaves, often very large—to 65 cm (26 in) across in the Japanese horse chestnut, A. turbinata. Species are deciduous or evergreen. Flowers are showy, insect- or bird-pollinated, with four or five petals fused into a lobed corolla tube, arranged in a panicle inflorescence. Flowering starts after 80–110 growing degree days. The fruit matures to a capsule 2–5 cm (1–2 in) diameter, usually globose, containing one to three seeds (often erroneously called a nut) per capsule. Capsules containing more than one seed result in flatness on one side of the seeds. The point of attachment of the seed in the capsule (hilum) shows as a large circular whitish scar. The capsule epidermis has "spines" (botanically: prickles) in some species, while other capsules are warty or smooth. At maturity, the capsule splits into three sections to release the seeds.[3][4][5]

Aesculus seeds were traditionally eaten, after leaching, by the Jōmon people of Japan over about four millennia, until 300 AD.[6][7][8]

All parts of the buckeye or horse chestnut tree are moderately toxic, including the nut-like seeds.[9][10] The toxin affects the gastrointestinal system, causing gastrointestinal disturbances. The USDA notes that the toxicity is due to saponin aescin and glucoside aesculin, with alkaloids possibly contributing.[11]

Native Americans used to crush the seeds and the resulting mash was thrown into still or sluggish waterbodies to stun or kill fish.[11][12] They then boiled and drained (leached) the fish at least three times to dilute the toxin's effects.[13] New shoots from the seeds also have been known to kill grazing cattle.[14]

The genus was considered to be in the ditypic family Hippocastanaceae along with Billia,[15] but phylogenetic analysis of morphological[16] and molecular data[17] has more recently caused this family, along with the Aceraceae (maples and Dipteronia), to be included in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae).
Selected species

The species of Aesculus include:

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	Aesculus assamica		NE India (Sikkim) eastward to S China (Guangxi) and N Vietnam
	Aesculus hippocastanum	Horse chestnut	Europe, native to the Balkans; Northeastern North America[18]
	Aesculus indica	Indian horse chestnut	eastern Asia
	Aesculus chinensis	Chinese horse chestnut	eastern Asia
	Aesculus californica	California buckeye	western North America
	Aesculus flava (A. octandra)	yellow buckeye	eastern North America
	Aesculus glabra	Ohio buckeye	eastern North America
	Aesculus parviflora	bottlebrush buckeye	eastern North America
	Aesculus parryi	Parry's buckeye	western North America, endemic to Baja California del Norte
	Aesculus pavia	red buckeye	eastern North America
	Aesculus sylvatica	painted buckeye	eastern North America
	Aesculus turbinata	Japanese horse-chestnut	Japan
	Aesculus wangii	Horse chestnut	eastern Asia

Cultivation

The most familiar member of the genus worldwide is the common horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum. The yellow buckeye, Aesculus flava (syn. A. octandra), is also a valuable ornamental tree with yellow flowers, but is less widely planted. Among the smaller species is the bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, a flowering shrub. Several other members of the genus are used as ornamentals, and several horticultural hybrids have also been developed, most notably the red horse chestnut Aesculus × carnea, a hybrid between A. hippocastanum and A. pavia.
In art
Column details in the Reims Cathedral depicting horse chestnut tree leaves

Interpretations of the tree leaves can be seen in architectural details in the Reims Cathedral.
In history

The leaf of Aesculus was the official symbol of Kyiv on its coat of arms used from 1969 to 1995.[19] It remains an official symbol of Kyiv to this day.[19]

In the 1840 U.S. presidential campaign, candidate William Henry Harrison called himself the "log cabin and hard cider candidate", portraying himself sitting in a log cabin made of buckeye logs and drinking hard cider, causing Ohio to become known as "the Buckeye State".[20]
See also

Anne Frank tree

References
Explanatory notes

This designation has as a part of it a term, 'Tertiary', that is now discouraged as a formal geochronological unit by the International Commission on Stratigraphy.[2]

Citations

Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607
Ogg, J.G.; Gradstein, F.M.; Gradstein, F.M. (2004). A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-78142-8.
Hardin, JW. 1957. A revision of the American Hippocastanaceae I. Brittonia 9:145-171
Hardin, JW. 1957. A revision of the American Hippocastanaceae II. Brittonia 9:173-195
Hardin, JW. 1960. A revision of the American Hippocastanaceae V, Species of the Old World. Brittonia 12:26-38
Harlan, Jack R. (1995). The Living Fields: Our Agricultural Heritage (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-521-40112-8.
Akazawa, T.; Aikens, C.M. (1986). Prehistoric Hunter-Gathers in Japan. University of Tokyo Press.
Aikens, C.M.; Higachi, T. (1982). Prehistory of Japan. New York Academic Press.
Hall, Alan (1976). The Wild Food Trail Guide (second ed.). New York: Holt, Rhinehart and Winston. p. 214.
Peterson, Lee (1977). A field guide to edible wild plants of eastern and central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. p. 172.
Nelson, Guy (2006). Ohio Buckeye (Aesculus glabra Willd.), Plant Guide. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Dale, Thomas R.; Scogin, Dixie B. (1988). 100 woody plants of Louisiana. Monroe, Louisiana: The Herbarium of Northeast Louisiana University. p. 118.
Fishing with Poisons
Guide to Poisonous Plants
Hardin, JW. 1957. A revision of the American Hippocastanaceae I. Brittonia 9:145-171.
Judd, W.S.; Sanders, R.W.; Donoghue, M.J. (1994). "Angiosperm family pairs". Harvard Papers in Botany. 1: 1–51.
Harrington, Mark G.; Edwards, Karen J.; Johnson, Sheila A.; Chase, Mark W.; Gadek, Paul A. (Apr–Jun 2005). "Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences". Systematic Botany. 30 (2): 366–382. doi:10.1600/0363644054223549. JSTOR 25064067. S2CID 85868684.
New York Flora Atlas: Aesculus hippocastanum
"'Thujoy Khreshchatyk'. Why Kyivans miss chestnuts and how they became a symbol of the capital", Ukrayinska Pravda (29 May 2019) (in Ukrainian)
Carnival Campaign: How the Rollicking 1840 Campaign of "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" Changed Presidential Elections Forever, by Ronald Shafer, 2016