Wild Nerding

Horse Chestnut

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Plant 🌰
🌰
Horse Chestnut
Aesculus hippocastanum
Size
Up to 25–40 m tallAbout as tall as a 10-storey building
Lifespan
Around 300 years, sometimes longer
Rarity
Common
M vs F
Horse Chestnuts have both male and female flowers on the same tree (monoecious) — no separate male/female trees
Habitat
Parks, gardens, streets and mixed woodland; not truly native to the UK but widely planted since the 1600s
Best time
Flowers in May ("candles"); conkers ripen and drop in September/October
Conservation
VU
💡 Did you know?
Horse Chestnut trees produce conkers — the shiny brown seeds inside spiky green cases that fall in autumn and are perfect for the game of conkers!
Horse Chestnuts are increasingly threatened by leaf miner moths and bleeding canker disease, which can cause early leaf browning by late summer even though the tree usually survives.
Often confused with
Sweet Chestnut (different leaf shape spiny nut case unrelated species) Sycamore (different leaf shape winged seeds not conkers)
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