Autumn Leaf Shape

Autumn Colour And Leaf Shape

Whilst many admire the autumn for its colour as the leaves change on the trees, the leaf fall also provides an opportunity to see the autumn from a different perspective. Predominantly seen as a colourful spectacle the many different leaf shapes that lay on the ground allow it to be seen from a different angle, above. As can be seen from the photograph there are many different shapes, from left to right around the top of the large palmate leaf in the centre, the Chinese horse chestnut (or Wilson's horse chestnut), Aesculus wilsonii, the leaves of the Catalpa, Plane, Sycamore, Liriodendron, Lime, Beech, Ginko and Hornbeam are a wonderful combination.

Chinese Horse Chestnut and Conkers

The Chinese horse chestnut not only has bigger leaves but it also has large chestnuts or conkers. As can be seen from the next two photographs below, the conker's size is compared for scale to a one pound coin, two pound coin and a group of three conkers from the European horse chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum which is found all over Britain.

Conkers and Coins

Conkers, European Horse Chestnut Tree (L) Chinese Horse Chestnut (R)

Conkers On the Tree

The Chinese chestnut has a large, dark, single conker (seed) within a smooth, brown case rather than the 1-2 smaller, red-brown conkers in a spiky green case of the European horse chestnut. The young tree in the gardens has produced a dozen conkers this year but when it reaches its full height, 30 to 50ft, it should be full of giant conkers!

Chinese Horse Chestnut, Aesculus wilsonii

Giant Leaves

The Large Leaves On The Ground

The tree is not the only one in the gardens to produce very large leaves, the photograph below shows one of its leaves being compared to a leaf of the Chinese parasol tree, Firmiana simplex. Both giants amongst leaves they add their distinctive shape and size to this year's stunning autumn spectacle.

 Chinese Parasol Tree (L) Chinese Horse Chestnut (R)

For a comparison of the Chinese parasol leaves to other more common leaves see blog entry 10th December 2013 'The Giant Leaf Of The Chinese Parasol Tree'.