1. Different shapes
Aesculus is a deciduous tree, up to 25 meters in height.The bark is dark brown or grayish brown.Branches are branchlets, cylindrical, yellow-brown or grey-brown in color, with yellowish lenticels.Leaves are palmately compound, composed of 5-7 leaflets, petioles 10-12 cm long, gray puberulent.The fruit is spherical or obovoid, blunt at the top and slightly concave in the middle, yellow-brown.Flowering period is from April to May, and fruiting period is in October.
Sapindus mukorossi is a large deciduous tree with a height of about 20 meters.The bark is gray-brown or black-brown.The leaves are simple pinnate, with 5-8 pairs of leaflets, usually subopposite, thin papery, oblong-lanceolate or slightly falcate.The fruit is orange-yellow and turns black when dry.Flowering from June to July.Fruiting: September-October.
2. Different growth habits
Aesculus chinensis prefers light and tolerates shade.It is suitable for growing in warm environment, but it can also tolerate cold.It grows better in deep, fertile, moist and well-drained soil.The germination ability is strong, but the growth speed is medium to slow.China's Yellow River Basin and the eastern provinces are cultivated, wild horse chestnut only in the Qinling Mountains.
Sapindus mukorossi has strong cold resistance.It has no strict requirements for soil, deep roots and strong wind resistance.It can not tolerate water and humidity, but can tolerate drought.Germination ability is weak, do not bear pruning.It grows fast and has a long life.It grows mostly in the south of the Yangtze River Basin in China, as well as in the Central and South Peninsula, India and Japan.
Not the same plant.The two plants belong to Sapindales, but not the same plant, in shape and growth environment may be a little similar, but there are still big differences between the two.