Horse chestnut, Conker tree, European horsechestnut, Buckeye, Spanish chestnut (lat. Aesculus, Aesculus Hippocastanum).
A genus of plants of the Sapindaceae family, many species of which are widely bred in parks. A deciduous tree reaching 25 m in height, or a shrub 1.5-5 m high.
The leaves are large, complex 5-7-fingered, opposite, with long petioles, without stipules. Form a dense crown.
The flowers are bell-shaped, up to 2 cm in diameter, bisexual, irregular, with an oblique plane of symmetry. Inflorescences are large, in the form of pyramidal erect racemes. The flower cover is double; the green calyx consists of 5 sepals fused at the base; the whitish corolla with a pink base consists of five free petals. Blooms in May-June. The plant is valued as an early honey plant.
The fruits are a tricuspid spiny box, each containing one (less often two or three) nut-shaped seeds, called horse chestnuts or simply chestnuts.
Horse chestnuts are moisture-loving and prefer loamy soils containing lime. They tolerate urban conditions well. They grow slowly, especially in the first ten years, more intensively — at the age of ten to twenty-five years.
They begin to bear fruit in fifteen to twenty-five years. All species are good honey plants and are very decorative throughout the growing season.