The Dawes Arboretum

Common name: golden common horse-chestnut

Family: Hippocastanaceae (horse-chestnut family)

Distribution: Species native to s.e. Europe

Hardiness: USDA Zone 4

Life form: Deciduous tree

Comments: A large, deciduous, upright oval shade tree growing 70' tall and often as wide. Its distinctive spring leaves consist of 5-7 yellowish leaflets attached to stout, gray stems. In summer foliage becomes medium green. Older bark is fissured into plate-like scales. White flowers in terminal panicles occur in May; each flower has an inner blotch that begins yellow then turns red. Light brown spiny capsules contain up to two seeds.