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In May, horse chestnut trees hold up hundreds of upright flower spikes, often called candles. Each spike is made up of many white flowers with frilled petals and long, curving stamens.
Look closely and you will see a small coloured patch at the base of the upper petals. On fresh flowers it is yellow, guiding bees to the nectar. Once a flower has been pollinated and its nectar runs low, the patch turns pink and then deep red. Bees see red poorly, so the change steers them towards the flowers that still have something to offer, which helps the tree too. The main visitors are bumblebees and honeybees.
The horse chestnut was brought to Britain for this display, and it was widely planted in parks, avenues and village streets, including in many mining towns and villages. Its scientific name, hippocastanum, means "horse chestnut," perhaps from an old belief that its seeds cured horses of coughs, or from the horseshoe-shaped scars its leaves leave on the twigs.
In May, horse chestnut trees hold up hundreds of upright flower spikes, often called candles. Each spike is made up of many white flowers with frilled petals and long, curving stamens.
Look closely and you will see a small coloured patch at the base of the upper petals. On fresh flowers it is yellow, guiding bees to the nectar. Once a flower has been pollinated and its nectar runs low, the patch turns pink and then deep red. Bees see red poorly, so the change steers them towards the flowers that still have something to offer, which helps the tree too. The main visitors are bumblebees and honeybees.
The horse chestnut was brought to Britain for this display, and it was widely planted in parks, avenues and village streets, including in many mining towns and villages. Its scientific name, hippocastanum, means "horse chestnut," perhaps from an old belief that its seeds cured horses of coughs, or from the horseshoe-shaped scars its leaves leave on the twigs.