# 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.

- **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.

## About

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 .

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/0ed8df25-4e9c-4967-9c74-24ce41b4e7a8
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/84298
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesculus hippocastanum
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/236277620/medium.jpeg (Onondaga Earth Corps, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.