Facts
- It is said that you should say, "Oddly oddly onker my first
conker." the first time you harvest conkers for the season.
This supposedly ensures good luck in the coming conker season.
See Interactions
for more on the game conkers. And for even more visit
Conkers.
- The tree that sheltered Anne Frank against the Nazis was in
fact a horse chestnut tree! For more see
Home. And for even more
visit this
NY times article!
-This horse chestnut tree is also sometimes called the bongay,
konker tree, and buckeye.
-There is a superstition dating far back saying that arthritis
can be cured or prevented by carrying a horse chestnut seed in
your pocket.
-The name is often attributed to the fact that the mark left on
the twig when the leaf drops resembles a horseshoe. Another
reason is that an oil found in the fruit is used for shining
horses' hooves and fetlocks.
-It takes the horse chestnut approximately twenty to fifty
ears to reach their ultimate height.
-The flower clusters can develop to be a foot long!
-Lower layers of bark in the Aesculus hippocastanum
often have an orange color.
-The horse chestnut is reported as invasive in
Georgia, Maine, Oregon, Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin. To learn more about invasive species visit
Invasive.
-The toxin which makes the horse chestnut poisonous is called
aesculin and has the following chemical composition:
If you would like to learn about a delicious organims visit
Nutmeg and
Blueberries!