Aesculus

The genus Aesculus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs, mostly native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but one species (A. assamica) into subtropical areas of southeast Asia. The Plants of the World Online (POWO) database currently accepts 12 species, with seven species native to North America, four native to Asia, and one native to Europe; some other authors have accepted more species. Hardin (1957–1960) accepted 13 species, the Trees and Shrubs Online website cites "13–15" species with descriptions given for 14 species, and Harris et al. (2009) accepted 16 species. Six natural hybrids occur, and several others have been raised in cultivation. The European and Asian species are known as horse-chestnut or horse chestnut, and the North American species as buckeye. Aesculus exhibits a classical Arcto-Tertiary distribution.

Aesculus

Fernando Losada Rodríguez · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
SapindaceaePBDB
Diet
"photoautotroph"PBDB, for Angiospermae

Time the record covers

At least 55 million years on record.

The record covers at least 56 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 66 Mya to 0 Mya.

Late Cretaceous — about 0 of 38 occurrencesPaleocene — about 4 of 38 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 5 of 38 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 1 of 38 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 12 of 38 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 5 of 38 occurrencesPleistocene — about 10 of 38 occurrences67–65 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences65–63 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences61–58 Mya — about 1 occurrence58–56 Mya — about 2 occurrences56–54 Mya — about 1 occurrence54–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–49 Mya — about 1 occurrence49–47 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences45–43 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences43–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences25–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 3 occurrences18–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 2 occurrences11–9.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence9.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences6.7–4.5 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.5–2.2 Mya — about 5 occurrences2.2–0 Mya — about 10 occurrences56 Mya11.7 ka67 Mya0 Mya

38 occurrences of Aesculus on record, most of them in the Miocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

38 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

9 formations

Fort Union — 41.59°N, 109.25°WFort Union — 44.88°N, 108.87°WFort Union — 41.71°N, 108.62°WChallis Volcanics — 44.37°N, 114.24°WJohn Day — 44.95°N, 120.33°WJohn Day — 44.16°N, 120.41°WAldrich Station — 38.49°N, 118.90°WMotojuku — 36.25°N, 138.75°EMiddlegate — 39.25°N, 117.88°WPyramid — 39.90°N, 119.55°WShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°ESayama — 35.78°N, 139.38°E

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The named rock units Aesculus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Aesculus and its relatives

Miocene

Where Aesculus and its relatives were recorded in the Miocene.

Found in the same rock

497 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 20 sites for Aesculus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

23 references

Each of the 38 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 11 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Aesculus

Credit
Fernando Losada Rodríguez
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC0 Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itSapindaceae through timeFormations of the MioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1753