Interesting Facts

• Best known for the production of ‘conkers’. The spiky seed shell contains a shiny nut. The nut is threaded on to a string and the opponents conker is flicked until one breaks leaving a winner. Some conkers are treated with vinegar of other tricks to harden them for competition.

• Due to chemical saponin in the nut they have historically been used for washing clothes.
• Spiders and other creatures are frightened off by the saponins
• The flowers are quite striking and form  attractive pyramid shapes, referred to as  ‘candles’, up in the branches.

Botanic Facts

• Trees can be over 100 feet tall and long lived up to 250 years.
• The palmate leaves can be disfigured  by leaf miner moths.
• They provide heavy shade and little will grow directly beneath them.
• Germination and initial growth can be quite rapid.
• Aesculus hippocastanum or Horse-Chestnut flowers are white but there is a red hybrid Aesculus carnea