alexchernoff's Journal

Horse chestnuts or aesculus hippocastanum are part of a genus referred to as aesculus which consists of 19 total aesculus species. Horse chestnuts are part of the hippocastanaceae family, the sapindales order, the magnoliopsida class, the magnoliophyta phylum, the spermatophyta superdivision, the tracheaobionta subkingdom, the plantae kingdom, the archeaplastida supergroup, and the eukarya domain. Our groups observed species is trees and as all trees on Mount Royal were imported from Europe and replanted here in Montreal the trees had to acclimatize to a foreign environment and more specifically one with very harsh winters. One specific adaption of horse chestnuts is providing support and protection for the embryo encased in its seeds. This can be clearly observed through the spines that coat the outside of the seed.