Red Horse Chestnut tree

The red or pink horse chestnut is a hybrid between the common species and red buckeye, a crimson flowered beauty from the southern Unites States. The French have led the way in horticultural research into this cross. They triumphed in the nineteenth century with the cultivar 'Briotii' (originally called 'Madame Briot'), raised in 1858. It has blood red flowers on a fairly compact tree. Unlike many A.x carnea crosses it is fertile, conkers are produced in almost spineless husks. Progeny from these have been known to produce flowers only 5 years after planting. This is a robust tree that makes a bold landscape statement when it flowers in late spring, but for the rest of the year it is somewhat ordinary. Therefore it needs to be planted as a minor attraction rather than as an eye-catcher or focal point. It is best to plan to keep this hybrid for only a short time and have young trees coming on to replace old ones over the age of 50 years. By this time most specimens suffer from unsightly canker-like growths amongst the branches. These are caused by a disorder known as bud proliferation, the cause of which is unknown. Clusters of dwarf shoots tend to congregate, and over several years form swellings or galls on stems and branches. When the galls die the underlying wood is invaded by fungi which eventually cause splitting and slime discharge. In severe cases branches above the gall may become disfunctional.

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