Aesculus hippocastanum is a large
deciduous tree, commonly known as Horse-chestnut. It is native to a small area in the
mountains of the
Balkans in southeast
Europe, in small areas in northern
Greece,
Albania, the
Republic of Macedonia,
Serbia, and
Bulgaria. It is widely cultivated throughout the temperate world. It grows to 36 m tall, with a domed crown of stout branches, on old trees the outer branches often pendulous with curled-up tips. The
leaves are opposite and palmately compound, with 5-7 leaflets; each leaflet is 13-30 cm long, making the whole leaf up to 60 cm across, with a 7-20 cm petiole. The
flowers are usually white with a small red spot; they are produced in spring in erect panicles 10-30 cm tall with about 20-50 flowers on each panicle. Usually only 1-5
fruit develop on each panicle; the fruit is a green, softly spiky
capsule containing one (rarely two or three)
nut-like
seeds called
conkers or horse-chestnuts. Each conker is 2-4 cm diameter, glossy nut-brown with a whitish scar at the base.
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