what is the difference between the horse chestnut tree and the chestnut tree , and how to tell the difference?

I want to know the looks of the chestnut tree and the horse chestnut tree and the fruit how does it look.

How could I propagate a horse chestnut tree from cuttings?

Can you tell a gender of a horse chestnut tree?

How can I root a branch from a horse chestnut tree? Should I put earth in a bucket of water or something else.

What is the Difference?

How long does the chestnut take to hit the ground?

How hardy are chestnut trees?

What initial speed must you give the second chestnut if they are both to reach the ground at the same time?

What is the difference between a Walnut Tree and a Black Walnut Tree?

What breed of horse is chestnut with a white mane and tail?

What are your views on chestnut mares?

What color tack looks best with a Chestnut horse?

What color goes with a grey and chestnut horse?

4 comments a "what is the difference between the horse chestnut tree and the chestnut tree , and how to tell the difference?"

if you live in the united states, then it’s probably a horse chestnut. most regular chestnuts were killed by the chestnut blight a long time ago.

sorry, don’t know the difference between the two. yeah, I’m a lot of help, aren’t I?

this link shows how the horse chestnut fruit looks like

this 2nd link shows the fruit of the american chestnut tree

The white horsechestnut is in the same family as the buckeye, so its leaves are palmately compound. Basically it looks like an Ohio Buckeye.
The American Chestnut leaves actually look more likw a beech tree..slightly bigger and serrated.
To find one of size today is very difficult due to a blight that nearly wiped the tree out back in the early 1900′s through the 1950′s. If you do find one today it will look more like a shrub than a huge tree of old.

The main difference between the two is the leaf style. American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) has long, up to 8″, single leafs. They are serrated along the margins (edges). In my opinion they resemble some oak leafs (not the lobed ones) or very large beech leafs. American chestnut, oak and beech belong to the same plant family, Fagaceae. American chestnut looks alot like it’s cousin, Chinese chestnut (Castenea mollissima), which can be found in your local garden center (from time to time).

Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) has leafs that are palmate in form (that is shaped like a hand, with leaflets joined together in a “central” point). They have very large pronounced terminal (at the end of the branch) buds, which look lacquered.
They belong to a different family of trees, Hippocastanaceae (a big problem in horticulture class, because spelling counted). I don’t remember any serrations along the leaf margins for horse chestnut.

As mentioned before, most American chestnuts were killed by a blight in the beginning of the last century. However good news! A native stand, showing no signs of the blight has been discovered. Experiments are being conducted and evaluations on these plants to see if they are resistant or immune to the disease. If all pans out, we may have some new American chestnuts introduced into commerce in the next decade.

I hope that this helps
Good luck-

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