AESCULUS INDICA, Indian Horse-Chestnut
- Æsculus indica, Colebrooke, Wallich, List 1188 (1828); Bot. Mag. t. 5117 (1859); Hiern, in Flora British India, i. 675 (1875); Bean, in Gard. Chron. 1897, xxii. 155 and 1903, xxxiii. 139, Suppl. Illust.; Collett, Flora Simla, 97 (1902); Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 193 (1902); Brandis, Indian Trees, 185, 705 (1906).
- Pavia indica, Wallich, ex Jacquemont, Voyage dans l'Inde, iv. 31, t. 35 (1844).
A large tree, attaining in India 150 feet in height and 4o feet in girth of stem. Bark in old trees peeling off in long strips. Leaves large, glabrous, dark green above, pale, almost glaucous beneath; leaflets five to nine, stalked, obovatelanceolate, acuminate, finely and sharply serrate, with about twenty pairs of nerves in the terminal leaflet. Panicles 12 to 15 inches long, loose, narrow, erect. Flowers large, about 1 inch long; calyx ⅓ inch long, irregularly lobed, often splitting so as to appear two-lipped. Petals four, white, of two unequal pairs; the upper pair narrow and long with a red and yellow blotch at the base, the lower pair flushed with pink. Stamens seven or eight, scarcely longer than the petals, spreading. Fruit brown, rough, without spines, irregularly ovoid, one to two inches long, containing one to three dark brown shining seeds.
Identification
In summer the viscid buds and the large stalked leaflets with finely serrate margins distinguish it from the other species in cultivation In winter the twigs show the following characters:—Branchlets coarse, shortly pubescent; lenticels like brown raised warts, numerous; pith circular, white; leaf-scars on slightly prominent cushions, each pair wide apart and joined by a raised linear ridge, obovate or semicircular with a raised rim and three groups of bundle-dots. Buds viscid, greenish, the lower scales only being brown; terminal buds ovoid, pointed, the two lowest scales having projecting beaks; scales not ciliate, the outermost four pubescent; lateral buds small, arising at an acute angle.
Distribution
It is a common tree in the north-west Himalayas from the Indus to Nepal, occurring at elevations of from 4000 to 10,000 feet, and also occurs in Afghanistan. Sir George Watt informs me that he has measured many trees 150 feet in height with trunks of enormous size, a girth of 4o feet not being uncommon. The wood is used in building and for making water-troughs, platters, vases, cups, packing-cases, and tea-boxes. The twigs and leaves are lopped for use as fodder. The fruit is given as food to cattle and goats; ground and mixed with ordinary flour, it is part of the dietary of the hill tribes. The bark of old trees is very remarkable in appearance, exfoliating in long flakes, which remain attached at their upper ends and hang downwards and outwards. (A.H.)
