Horse Chestnut
It’s not a horse or a hippo, and the nut is inedible
It’s early autumn and I was out walking in the park, where I spotted the fallen seed pods. Chestnuts. These green spiked balls make me think of the Medieval maces used as weapons, with brutal spiked iron balls.
The pods I found were open and no doubt emptied by squirrels. I knew the trees were not native American chestnuts, but needed to look it up. I suspected horse chestnut but there are also Chinese chestnuts, which has larger hairy pods.
What I was finding were in fact horse chestnuts. I brought one home to offer to my marauding squirrels.
These trees are lovely large specimens, hard to miss, especially in spring with their large white upright flowers and large palmate leaves.
They are not native and have been planted widely as ornamentals. Its parts are toxic. Where I live in Washington, King County has listed this species as “a weed of concern.” They do not go out and destroy them, but discourage new plantings. I imagine the seeds sprout readily. They also can be a host for Sooty Bark Disease, which can infect native maples.
Somehow, the species arrived in North America a long time ago. It is native to Turkey and the Balkans.
Horse chestnuts are also known as conker trees and buckeyes. There is a theory that someone thought the seed looked like a deer eye – buck eye and that is where they name came from.
Ohio is famously called the Buckeye state and they do indeed have some. I got to see some when I visited a friend there.
Natural Views 
Great post. In England we have oodles of Horse Chestnuts – with white candelabra flowers. We also have a few Horse Chestnuts with red candelabra flowers, and they are a cross between the standard white flowering Horse Chestnut and Red Buckeye. Funny how the red showed itself in the flowers. They are all Aesculus (British spelling) so they cross easily.
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That’s so interesting. I would like to see the red flowers.
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Love your description of the spiked balls to ‘medieval maces’ used as weapons, and your labeling of your squirrels as ‘marauding’: Hah!, lovely imagery.
Your first photo is particularly striking. Very tempting indeed if one is a squirrel…
I note David’s comment below. Yes, we’ve got great horse chestnuts here, throughout the UK, not just in England. However as David and I have just been commenting, the largest number we ever saw was in Cambridge.
They are stunning in spring, heavily laden with their distinctive blossoms.
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Glad you enjoyed my post! It’s amazing how worldwide tree species become.
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