The horse chestnut's scientific name is Aesculus hippocastanum. It grows naturally in the moist mountain valleys of parts of Albania and Greece. These trees are seen at their best when grown in the open reaching up to 35m (115 feet) with the arching branches normally turned up at the ends. It is one of the largest flowering trees of the temperate world. Other species are found in North America where the glossy nuts appearing from the spiny shells give them the name of "buck-eye" as the chestnuts resemble the eye of a deer. The pink and red flowered forms are hybrids between the horse chestnut and red American buck-eyes. (Newbury, MA - May 2006)
