Re: Horsechestnut   Lee E. Frelich   May 31, 2002 07:04 PDT  ENTS: This is probably more detail than you are interested in, but, since Bob mentioned horse chestnut, here is some history of that species. It is (contrary to some textbooks statement that it is from Asia) a native of the Pindos Mountains in central Greece. The first written documentation of the tree is from a physician named Willem Quackelbeen, a resident of Istanbul, who in 1557 wrote a letter to a friend in central Europe describing trees at the palace of the Emperor in Istanbul. According to the letter the Turks named it horse chestnut because the nuts were fed to horses to help those horses with 'cough and worm diseases'. It is known that during the late 1500s, several specimens were transported to botanical gardens in Padua, Florence and Pisa. The best documented introduction was to Vienna, where a man named Clusius, a servant in the court of Emperor Maximillian II, received specimens that had been transported by horse or camel from Istanbul during the winter of 1581. The trees were a gift from David Ungnad, the Imperial Ambassador to the Emperor of the Turks. All of the horse chestnuts around Europe and the U.S. apparently originated later from the trees in Vienna, which were offspring of a handful of trees in Istanbul. This narrow genetic base probably explains why they are so susceptible to the horse chestnut leaf miner, which has been a major epidemic in the last few years in European cities. Lee Frelich University of MN Department of Forest Resources Re: Horsechestnut   Joseph Zorzin   May 31, 2002 07:55 PDT  Regardless- Turkey- Greece, whatever- I should think that it's probably "native" to much of that part of the world, seeing that it grows so well in so many areas- it must have been "native" to all of that area prior to the massive destruction of the forests over the last several thousand years. I'm amazed that a tree which is native to that part of the world grows so well in New England. I don't know of any other tree "native" to a Mediterranean type climate that grows in frigid New England. I vaguely recall seeing it "go wild" in western Mass. I can't remember where, but I know I've seen seedlings coming up that were not planted. All the more amazing because so many species not native- planted in New England- will grow just fine if protected from native competition by humans, but not "go wild". One thing that "sticks" in my mind about horse chestnut is that when the buds open up, they are covered with seems like Elmer's Glue- you can hardly wash the stuff off once it gets on you. Maybe that glue is toxic to bugs, I dunno. Joe Zorzin http://forestmeister.com/ RE: Horsechestnut   Will Fell   May 31, 2002 08:47 PDT  Interesting... I have often wondered about Horse Chestnut after having seen it in bloom up in the DC/Philadelphia area gardens. I came across one up near Atlanta that had been nominated as an Ohio Buckeye and later decided it was a Horse Chestnut. They do not seem to do well at all down here, compared to what I saw up north, which is unusual from my limited experience with Mediterranean species. A number of Med. Species seem to do well in our climate, such as the various true cedars, cork oaks, date palms etc. I have often wondered just what we know about the origin of some of our exotic species that have taken hold. For example, while not an exotic (as far as we know) there is a small tree with beautiful white flowers, known as the Franklin Tree or colloquially the "Lost Franklinia", (Franklinia alatamaha) which history records was discovered at a colonial plantation on the banks of the Altamaha River near here in the 1750's by Wm. Bartram on his travels. A specimen was taken to Philadelphia and propagated and it now thrives in area gardens in the Northeast. I understand it is present in some of the public gardens in Boston as well. The tree has not been seen in the wild since and botanists have combed the areas along the Altamaha for years in search of it. Down here you can hardly keep one alive and many attempts have been made at planting it in area gardens with mediocre at best results. Why? Could it be like the horse chestnut and been moved from some other locale by one of the early planters. I know I digress...just Friday musings...   Home