Hippocastanaceae

The Hippocastanaceae is a small family of trees and shrubs made up of three genera and about 25 species from North America, Asia and the Balkan Peninsula.

Features

Leaves opposite, palmate or imparipinnate. Hermaphroditic or unisexual flowers, slightly zygomorphic, pentamerous and with superior ovary, arranged in paniculiform inflorescences. Fruit in a loculic capsule.

Taxonomy

Members of this family are closely related to the mostly tropical family Sapindaceae. Current classification systems include members of the Hippocastanaceae along with those of the Aceraceae, among others, in the Sapindaceae sensu lato.

Recent molecular studies have shown that while the Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are themselves monophyletic, their separation from the Sapindaceae sensu lato, Juss. name cons. would leave the Sapindaceae sensu stricto as a paraphyletic group. Therefore, it is now considered a simple synonym of the subfamily Hippocastanoideae, Dumortier of the Sapindaceae sensu lato, the Sapindaceae sensu stricto also remaining as a mere subfamily Sapindoideae Burnett.

Use

Its economic interest is low and is reduced to the cultivation of some species, such as ornamentals and shade trees, its wood, which is of poor quality, and the medicinal use of horse chestnut.