A variety with 7 leaflets ..

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

Briotii with 7 leaflets. Notice how they usually have a red stain on the joint?

http://www.loenbaek.dk/planter...

On the topic of grafting, not exactly what I was looking for, but confirms the possibility of a graft failure and growth of hippocastanum from the stock:

http://wbd.etibioinformatics.n...

sooby said:On the topic of grafting, not exactly what I was looking for, but confirms the possibility of a graft failure and growth of hippocastanum from the stock:

http://wbd.etibioinformatics.n...

Oh the twists and turns!

There is a darker pink variety called 'Briotii' available, generally grafted onto European rootstock. The variety 'Plantierensis' or A. x plantierensis is a pink-flowered seedless form developed in France from a backcross of A. x carnea and A. hippocastanum.

http://www.holmeshollow.com/bu...

I had a good look at the trunk, if grafted the graft usually shows a few inches from the ground. I can't see a graft but there is something suspicious to the left. I thought the bottom part of the trunk looked flat up to the arrow, if it was spliced in at a young age then it could have been grafted. A good splice done correctly can take almost seamlessly.

Or, grafting and budding!

http://content.ces.ncsu.edu/gr...



I think I'm now seeing a graft .. look between the two arrows. (Mustn't forget the number of leaf veins!)

The plot thickens!

It does!

I've been trying to snoop around nearby streets. I went to the street to the left of N. Kedzia, N. Sawyer. There's young trees near the junction which were struggling to survive, I think they were Elm by the chubby leaf shape, one appeared to be dying.

I found I couldn't go straight across the junction from N. Kedzia on some dates to the street opposite, on other dates I could. I chose July 2011 in the street opposite which isn't available in N. Kedzia, then swung back to N. Kedzia and got to the tree but couldn't go further. The tree was leafless then yet was in leaf in May the next year! Zoom in further and you can see a couple of green starfish shaped leaves in the fork, more on the metal grate with weeds in the hole.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

July 2011, there looks to be some dead leaves to the right of that bit of green. I'll have to try to get other dates coming from different streets.

If you go back on Kedzie on the most current Google view and turn left into Walgreens "additional customer parking" you can proceed a little way towards the back of the store. There is a group of trees there on the right with a white car parked beside them. Google went close enough to those to more clearly see leaves than most other shots. They aren't looking too good and they are ash, presumably with EAB. Ashes can look trilobed from a distance because of the leading three leaflets on the pinnately compound leaves. The ID tree in 2011 could be showing that, maybe not. Hard to tell. I can't go back in time in the parking lot at the moment because I'm not on the computer. I'd initially thought the spring view of the ID tree in full leaf had leaves with a trilobed effect that could have been ash.

I remember there was a year when the tree had no leaves in April while the Gleditsia next to it was partly leafed out, yet it was in full leaf in the May shot which seemed odd since Gleditsias are one of the last trees to leaf out. I suppose Google's dates are accurate

I read in one of the multitudinous articles on the other Aesculus that one of them, it might have been x carnea or one of its cultivars, or maybe var. arguta, had to be grafted high to give enough clearance for traffic underneath it because otherwise it would typically start branching at 4ft.

The tree had no leaves in April 2012 but was fully leafed out with young leaves in May 2012.

The July 2011 shot shows a minute amount of green leaves, with a bunch on the ground which we can't be sure where they come from. The trees along the street beyond it look to be in fully mature leaf.

The July 2012 shot shows the tree similarly bare but with a few leaves left on the left side.

It must have been stressed enough to have shed it's leaves in mid summer (twice that we know of) but alive enough to have regrown albeit late in 2012. It seems a little strange but I think the dates are correct, I had wondered myself as I was brought to a sudden stop in July 2011 but similarly I couldn't advance over the crossing from N. Kedzia on another date.

I had a look along a few other street going up to Grace Ave and down others, there's some very mature trees. One street looked to have plenty of Acer pseudoplatanus, some others I think on Grace Ave looked like Catalpa. No Aesculus though!

I got into the car park! There's only a 2014 date to go back to. I got snips of two of the three trees there, they look like you said, and the tree coming out of the car park which is on the sidewalk looks the same. I had a job getting back in, you have to do it at minimum zoom.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

I did it again, zoomed back too far before I got the September 2014 browser address, if you zoom out too far it takes you to an aerial view back to another date. You can get it from the link above, all three trees were looking distressed with bare branches at the top.

Better post in case my display drive plays me up again.

Two of the car park trees in October 2015 ..



I blew up the seed capsule which looks like Aesculus x carnea Briotii, I don't know if you can see the small spines when uploaded but it looks to have a few. The tree wouldn't have been able to produce conkers looking like it did in both July 2011 and 2012 (it's supposed to produce flowers at a young age I think), we know it was marked for the chop in 2013. This capsule looks quite fresh. Just noticed, what is that burnt looking stem to the NW of the capsule included in the red ring, the bark looks like it's been in a fire.

I don't have much to add on the differences between Aesculus species and varieties. However, in the last picture, are you sure that's the seed capsule? It looks like the seed inside the skin of the nut (I don't know if there's a technical term for that). Part of the skin seems to be visible on the lower left of the nut.

I turned left along W. Irving Park Rd from the July 2011 link, there was a tree which I thought might look the same not far along. I went back to April 2009 and none of the trees there were in leaf! At that point I could no longer get July 2011 but I can go back to the link and do it again.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

June 2009 a leafless tree which was still dead looking in July 2012.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

Same dead tree in July 2011, I was looking at the tree behind the white car.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

June 2012 ..

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

October 2013 that tree is still very green while others are going yellow.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

There's loads of dates to choose from, October 2014 again with dark green leaves. It has long branches with loads of opposite leaves.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/...

Gabriel, the seed of Briotii looks like that, you can see the joint on the right side. There is some white bits to the lower side which looks like ash from a fire it seems someone might have lit there.

http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plan...

The charred thing looks like the terminal end of a shoot with perhaps multiple buds at the apex. Perhaps residual from a mulch since there are other bits of wood there?

I wondered if that seed/nut could be from someone eating something and tossing the pit (not sure what though, it's too smooth for peach or plum). Or, it somewhat looks like it could be from a bitternut/hickory or something related, if there are any of those trees nearby (would have to be in gardens I think). It's not on the wire mesh so if squirrel-delivered it wasn't prevented from burying it.

Is it big enough to be 'Briotii' seed?

https://www.google.ca/search?q...

Hickory seed is possible!

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

I think it could be big enough to be Briotii Sue, they are from 1 to 1.5" long but as often is the case some are smaller.

Could the trees in the car park be Hickory? The one on the sidewalk by the entry to the car park looks the same, and it's only two trees up from the ID tree.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

http://www.wikihow.com/Identif...

Sue, the charred stem looks like it's broken at the top end, and charred with white ash (burnt ash!) at the bottom end.

There seems to be a leaf scar in the middle.

This is the tree third tree or second one up from the ID tree on the sidewalk, coming out of the Walgreens car park. It looks like the others in the car park, and they could be Hickory?

I'm pretty sure they're ash, the leaves look pointier than a hickory although I'd need to check relatives. The easiest difference (normally, with the tree in front of you, not necessarily on Google!) would be the leaf arrangement. Ash would be opposite, hickory and relatives would be alternate. I'm not sure if that's clear in the Google views - will go and have a look shortly.

They're ashes, the dead branches show opposite arrangement. I did wonder about the tall darker green tree behind the garage a little further down that alleyway but I think it may be Ailanthus.

Janet, if you take a leaf off your horse chestnut now, does it leave a typical leaf scar or does that form later? There are a couple of leaf scars visible where leaves have come off on Junker's plant but they don't look typical of horse chestnut. I'm not sure, though, whether the bundle scars etc. are fully formed before the abscission layer kicks in.