In the latest Arboretum Bulletin, plant explorer Dan Hinkley writes about a newly introduced species of horse chestnut, Aesculus wangii, which is happily growing in the Arboretum. (Our specimen’s lovely red spring foliage is pictured above.)
Dan describes his plant collection adventures in the mountains of northern Vietnam, as well as his trials and tribulations in bringing the plant’s baseball-size conkers back to the U.S. The species is rare in the wild, due in part to the many cardamom plantations that have replaced the tree’s native habitat.
