horse-chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum
Despite being called horse-chestnuts, their seeds are toxic to horses; the prefix 'horse' was historically used to denote coarse or unpalatable fruit unfit for human consumption.
- Scientific name
- Aesculus hippocastanum
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Sapindales › Sapindaceae › Aesculus
- IUCN Red List status
- Vulnerable
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Temperate mixed broadleaf mountain forests, shaded ravines, and cultivated urban parks.
- Diet
- Photoautotrophic (absorbs sunlight, atmospheric carbon dioxide, water, and soil minerals).
- Range
- Greece, Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Widespread cultivated across Europe and North America
- Size
- Height of 25–39 m (80–128 ft) with a trunk diameter up to 2 m
- Lifespan
- Up to 300 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Horse-chestnut leaf-miner moth infestation, bleeding canker disease, habitat fragmentation, and wildfires.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to approach, but poisonous if ingested. The nuts (conkers) contain toxic saponins and aesculin; keep pets away and never eat them. If swallowed, seek immediate medical care or poison control.
Aesculus hippocastanum is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is a large deciduous, synoecious (hermaphroditic-flowered) tree, commonly known as horse-chestnut or conker tree .
Photo: Onondaga Earth Corps, CC0, via iNaturalist
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