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November 10, 2007 : Aesculus hippocastanum
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Keywords: Sapindaceae | Aesculus hippocastanum L. | cultivated in Government House, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Thanks once again to Lotus J. aka ngawangchodron@Flickr for contributing to BPotD (original via the BPotD Flickr Group Pool).
Horse-chestnut has previously been featured on BPotD in this account of two plants from the Sapindaceae, but I couldn't resist today's photograph. Further reading about this native of the Balkans in southeastern Europe is available in that BPotD entry.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at November 10, 2007 12:00 AM
Comments
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Posted by: Sara Behnami at November 10, 2007 1:55 AM
What a photo, does it speak?
Posted by: Philip Knight at November 10, 2007 2:01 AM
OK, way too early in the morning for this. Next time post a warning.
Posted by: Chuck at November 10, 2007 6:15 AM
Aesculus hippocastanum - Z3 - RHS Index of Garden Plants, Griffiths
Aesculus hippocastanum - Z3-8 - A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, Brickell, Cole, Zuk
Posted by: Beverley at November 10, 2007 8:38 AM
This is so great! It bring back childhood memories of collecting Horse Chestnuts. Of course they looked very different than this one. In the Autumn when there was a Northeaster storm so many fell to the ground. The trees lined many streets in Newburyport, Massachusetts where I grew up right on the Altantic Ocean.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae
Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at November 10, 2007 7:15 PM
What is the difference between the horse chestnut and edible chestnuts? are horse chestnuts inedible? And acorns...are they edible?
Posted by: beverleybowhay at November 11, 2007 9:24 AM
A great photo!! At first scary and then sweet. I was wondering if the chestnuts in the park here in New Westminster are edible.
Posted by: Bonita at November 11, 2007 1:52 PM
can i eat it? i am very hungry and would like to eat it.
Posted by: d'shnyata odello at November 11, 2007 5:15 PM
No, they are not edible - slightly poisonous in fact. I imagine they taste soapy, as they can be dried, ground up, and then used as a detergent for linens (see the first link in the entry to horse-chestnut).
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at November 11, 2007 6:18 PM
d'shnyata and Bonita, the American horse-chestnuts are not exactly edible, but the Indians did eat them when they had to -- strictly a famine food. Euell Gibbons somewhere describes the long soaking and leaching it took to make a swallowable flour, I think (can't find the book it's in if it was one of his). If I remember rightly, the Indians also used buckeyes(ground fresh?)to stun fish.
This is one of the most beautiful photos I've ever seen. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a horse-chestnut that tasted as good as this one looks! (I remember the ones in Ohio as being intensely bitter.)
Posted by: mollym at November 11, 2007 9:39 PM
Feed Me Seymour!
Posted by: Muchak at November 12, 2007 10:04 AM
As someone who has had to pick up the phytotoxic seeds of this tree, it's good to see it represented in a positive light.
Posted by: Moses at November 14, 2007 8:50 PM
Good for capillary integrity and lower leg edema, at least in tincture and cream form.
Posted by: Karen Vaughan at November 19, 2007 7:43 AM
It's looking at me...
Posted by: what at December 1, 2007 8:44 PM
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It is wonderful! When I see such a beautiful plant, just say; Praise God!